Protege
by Lunadeath
Summary: -Complete- Draco's been having nightmares about witnessing the death of one Harry Potter. To try putting a stop to it, he places a Protection Charm on Potter. Will it help at all? And who's the little man? 'Slash'
1. Protecting a rival from the unknown

Title: Protégé  chapter 1

Warnings and notes: This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.

**(Old notes:) **Note that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).  So hopefully I will do a pretty decent story telling job for this universe. *Covers head and gets ready for the beatings*

Date first written: June 28, 2002

**(New notes)** I am rewriting this for a repost.  This is the first part in my trilogy, in which I need a name for, I think.  The second part of the trilogy is called Move Heaven and Earth, and the third is called Evil Begets Evil.  I don't know how much will be changed, since I'm writing this note first before I edit.  If anything does change, I will make note of it at the end of the chapter. (and I may make fun of my own fic once in a while, but hey- it is my first HP fic I've ever written.)

Contents:  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, adventure (let's hope), and maybe lime (bits of adult stuff), depending on my muse.

Pairings: Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione

Year: 6th 

Disclaimer:  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Protecting A Rival From The Unknown

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          Thunder crashed as Draco sat up with a start, heart pounding a mile a minute.  He breathed a sigh of relief once he realized that it was just a dream, running a shaky hand through his messy blond locks.  It was the fourth night in a row that he'd had this dream, and each time it kept getting worse.  He had tried using the Dreamless Sleep Draught two nights ago, but that hadn't helped one bit, which was very unusual.  The nightmare kept popping into his head and would not leave him be.

          "Why *him* of all people?" Draco grumbled to himself as he got up. "Why?  Have I done something truly horrific that I need to be punished with _this_??" He stormed over to his dresser, not being very considerate to the others in the room, and opened up the top drawer.  He took out a rolled up parchment (which had a spell on it so that he could only read it) and studied it. "This is perfect."  He began to practice wand movements that he had been planning with his finger, and grumbled the spell to himself so that he could have it memorized.

          It had been a fairly simple spell to the Slytherin.  A couple tweaks here and there, and the improvement of an old charm was finished.  He was so proud of what he did, and he couldn't wait any longer.  He just had to try it out.  The worst that could happen, he figured, was that the spell could backfire and he could get the charm slapped on himself instead.

          Walking with a purpose, Draco soon found himself in front of the painting of the Fat Lady wearing the pink dress.  "Password?"  Draco blinked, thinking back to what he heard a few days ago what that Mudblood girl had said to that pathetic excuse of a Gryffindor during Care of Magical Creatures.

          _"Honestly, Neville, how in the world could you forget the password for this week??  It's so simple!" Hermione had huffed; her voice carrying farther than she intended it to.  "Have you really forgotten 'Slytherin's Suck'?  Ron was the one who came up with it, and you agreed!"  She then sighed in frustration and walked off to join her group of friends._

          Draco had to chuckle at the way that Longbottom looked when Granger had went off on him, but then he frowned when he remembered what the password was.  Well, did he want in or not?  Deciding to put his pride off to the side for now, Draco sighed heavily and then swore under his breath.

          "Slytherin's Suck." He pronounced.  He shook his head, not believing he had the gall to say it.

          The Fat Lady smiled widely as she opened for him.  Draco walked in carefully; still unable to believe he had actually said that.  "Not my fault those Gryffin-idiots chose that as their password.  It is rather clever though," he whispered to himself.  "What Slytherin in their right mind would really try guessing _that_ as the password?  Even though it would be quite obvious."

          He berated himself for voicing his thoughts out loud and took the set of stairs that went up to the boy's dormitory.  He crept into the room marked 6th year that his target was occupying along with four other teens.  He took sight of who was in which bed (the other's curtains weren't drawn) and drew his wand out, waving it at the other beds, whispering a spell. And then, as silently as he could, Draco tiptoed over toward the curtains of a certain bed.  They were only closed half way, and when Draco moved around to see the occupant lying in the bed, he gasped when a pair of green eyes rose to meet his.

~**~

          Harry hadn't been very tired when he first crawled into bed, so he decided to do a bit of light reading to make his eyes sleepier.  He was reading a book on Quidditch History when he heard the sound of soft footsteps.  At first, he thought that it was just someone getting up to go use the loo, but when he felt that someone was actually _watching_ him, he looked up from what he was reading.

          What Harry saw didn't only surprise the hell out of him, but it also gave him some relief.  Was he that glad to see Malfoy?  No, not really.  But he was glad that it wasn't a teacher, or one of the girl admirers (he knew that they would be just crazy enough to try sneaking in), or even a Dementer.  He'd rather it have been Ron or Seamus though, and not this git.

          "What the HELL are you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry bit out, trying to keep himself quiet at the same time.  Draco seemed to know the reason for the whispering and he smirked.  He just stood there for a minute, staring.

          "Oh," Draco drawled finally, "You're awake."

"No, really?" Harry sneered sarcastically.

Draco waved a dismissing hand, "No need to whisper.  I put a Deafening Spell around their beds."  He nodded his head in the direction of the others.

          Harry took note of the wand in Draco's hand, "You were going to curse me, weren't you?"

          Draco snickered, "No, I wasn't."

          "Yeah, right."  Harry closed the book, "Look, why don't you just leave?  I'm not going to sleep until you do, and when you do leave, I will place a locking spell around the door so that you can't get back in."

          Draco almost laughed again, but he just smirked at him. "Think whatever you like, Potter.  You know damn well that if I did anything to you now, I could be risking having the wrath of most of the school on my head."

          "You're up to something, Malfoy, and I don't like it."

          "Oh, of course you don't." Draco said, sounding prudish.  "Because you're the so-called hero and I'm the evil Slytherin out for your blood."

          Harry rolled his eyes, "Tell me why you *are* here."

          "No." Draco said, looking eerily similar to the way he had the day Harry had confronted him about returning Neville's Remembrall. "I don't have to.  You're not my boss."  He put his wand back into his sleeve.  He figured that he'd have to try again, coming later at night.  He turned on his heel, giving Harry one of his classic wicked smirks, "Well, I'll be seeing you around, Potter.  Sweet dreams."

          Harry was about to leap out of his bed to go after Malfoy and demand that he explain himself, but his legs weren't working.  The way Malfoy's eyes flashed with more than sarcasm, the way his head turned to look at him and then back again, the way he swished back around and strode toward the door… it made his knees quake, making it almost impossible to even get on his knees.

Malfoy was very striking, he had to give him that much.  Harry saw the way a lot of girls would look at Draco, many wishing that he would grace their beds one day, or even give them so much as a glance.  Harry could see why they fancied him.  Yes, Harry let out his breath finally, Draco Malfoy was handsome.  But he wasn't about to admit that to anyone.  The moment that Malfoy opened his mouth to drawl out a mean comment, his appeal to Harry lowered considerably.

          He may be into guys, as well as girls, but at least he held _some_ standards.

~**~

          A week had passed, and Draco was feeling very agitated.  He wanted to try again tonight, to see if his improved spell would work.  If Harry hadn't been awake that one night, he would have succeeded in casting it on him, and of course by now he would know if it worked.  He growled in frustration, but now wasn't the time to be feeling sorry for himself.  He had to get the new password into the Gryffindor's dorm if he was going to try again.

          His eyes caught a Gryffindor first year going into the library. That particular first year just smelt of gullible.  He marched into the library in search of the little tyke.  He knew that Gryffindors were very brave, so he knew that there was no chance in hell that he could get the password by force.  So what did he do?  Lie of course.

And he was right about gullible.

          "Thanks." Draco said, smiling as nicely as he could get himself to do.

          "You're welcome!  And next time don't be so shy about asking Professor Dumbledore.  I'm sure he'd understand."

          Draco nodded, trying his hardest in keeping his smirk in check.  What he thought passed as a smile only looked creepy to the young Gryffindor, and the boy 'eeped' and stepped back.  

When Draco walked out of the library, he couldn't contain himself any longer and he let out a loud, boisterous laugh that echoed through the hallways.  The look on the first year was just too good.  "I still got it," he said, congratulating himself.

~*~

          That night, Draco slinked through the halls again to the Gryffindor painting.  The Fat Lady smiled, not seeming too surprised to see him back again.

          "Password?"

          Draco smiled, "Norbert's fire."

          She was astonished by the correct answer, but she opened for him anyways. "Good guess, Malfoy."

          "Thank you." Draco said, feeling smug.  He had found his way easily to the right door again and then whipped out his wand.  He put a Silencing Charm around the door before he opened it.  He just knew he had to take some extra precaution because of the last incident.  He opened the soundless door and peered in.  It was almost pitch black, save the one window by Harry's bed.  The curtains around Potter's bed were almost the same as last time, but the opening looked a bit wider.  The window was slightly open, letting in a small cool breeze.

          Draco raised his wand, did a little swish and flick at the other boys' beds, placing the Deafening Charm around them once more.  With a Silencing charm, within a given area, you could scream as loud as you want, and no one outside that area will hear you.  But, you *can* hear sounds outside that space.  With a Deafening charm, a person within a given area cannot hear anything outside that area, though people outside the area can hear them. [1]

          With a haughty smile, Draco advanced toward Harry's bed.  He silently peeked around the curtain's corner and with a small sigh of relief; he saw that his target was asleep.  He said a small thanks inside of his head as he walked over to the idle form, raised his wand, and then did the usual swish and flick.  He spoke the charm and then watched as Harry glowed a soft blue.

          It was either the sound of Draco's voice, or something internal telling him to awake up, but after Draco had cast the charm, Harry's eyes popped open.  When he saw Draco standing next to him, wand poised, and smirk firmly in place, he glared deadly at his rival.

          "I was right!" Harry hissed, getting himself into a sitting position, "You *were* gonna curse me!"

          Draco laughed, and he laughed loudly.  That told Harry that he must have placed the Deafening charm around his friends' beds again.  "No," Draco said, composing himself once more, "That's not exactly correct."

          Harry continued to glare, "Then why do you have your wand out?"

          Draco looked at his wand and then at Harry again. "Oops, forgot to put it away." He grinned, sticking it back into his sleeve.

          "All right, Malfoy, tell me what you just did."  Harry got up slowly from the bed.

          "Don't worry yourself into a grave… just yet." Draco snickered, "I didn't do anything too terrible."

          "And I'm supposed to believe you?"

          Draco shrugged, "It seems odd, yes.  But it's true.  Trust me."

          "Trust and Malfoy don't really go together, do they?" Harry spat out.  When he took a step closer toward the Slytherin, Draco would take a step back.  "Hold on, Malfoy, I want some answers."

          Draco smiled, "Answers to what?  I didn't do anything."

          Harry walked briskly around the blond so he could cut off his escape route.  Right when Draco turned around for the door, Harry was there, a few inches from his face, with his hand on his chest.

          "Tell me what you did, Malfoy.  Right now!  Tell me what curse you put on me or I'm going to Dumbledore with this!"

          Draco curled his hand around Harry's and slowly pulled it away from his chest, "I didn't curse you, Potter."

          "Despite what you have been saying, I don't trust you.  You know I don't." Harry tried to keep his eyes on Draco's face, but they kept moving down to their clasped hands.  Those gray eyes didn't seem as cold as they used to be.  They seem to be glowing with something so un-Malfoy like, it was almost scary.

          "If that's what you think." Draco smiled smugly.

          Harry became flustered when Draco continued to squeeze and caress his hand in Harry's. "Let go."

          "Why should I?" Draco smirked.

          "I said, _let go_!"  He yanked his hand back, face going flush.  Draco studied Potter's features, watching him squirm under their closeness, face going red, and wringing his hand subconsciously.

          Draco decided to try again, "I assure you, Potter, I was NOT trying to curse you.  You see, given your history, I thought I'd check in to see if you were still in bed and not getting yourself, or your friends, into trouble.  In which I would probably have to rescue you from."  He loved being a prefect.

          Harry didn't understand Malfoy one bit.  This wasn't the same Malfoy that swore to get revenge last year for what he did to his father, "Why would you rescue _me_?"

          "Well, we all know who would be blamed if their precious little Golden Boy was harmed.  Am I right?"

          Harry looked unsure.  Still standing a few inches from the blond Slytherin, he began to stare off into space, as if thinking.  After a minute of silence, Harry suddenly whispered, "So you didn't… ?"

          "No, I didn't."

          "Then, what?"

          Draco sighed, deciding that he might as well tell, because it would be an even bigger mess if he didn't let him know.  "I slapped a Protection Charm on you."

          "You what??" Harry finally lifted his eyes to stare heatedly into Draco's.

          Draco snickered softly, "Ok, let me explain before you try to curse ME." he placed a hand lightly on Harry's shoulder, surprised that Harry didn't knock it off, "I know that there's no way for me to convince you that I won't harm you, so instead I decided to show you.  I have put a Protection charm on you, which I tweaked myself, so that only your weasel friend, Granger, and I may touch you.  Everyone else will get shocked."

          "Shocked?  Like electrocuted??" Harry huffed.

          "Depends on how soft or hard the touch is." He demonstrated this by brushing a finger lightly across Harry's cheek. "A soft touch like this only gives the person a small static shock, but it feels like the biggest one they've ever received.  A harder touch," he pressed his finger harder into Harry's cheek, "and it feels like you've stuck your finger in a Muggle's electrical thing."

          "And a hand shake or a hug?" Harry asked, even though he was afraid to.

          "Let's just say, burning flesh." Draco smirked wickedly, bringing his arms around Harry's neck, and letting his forearms dangle on Harry's shoulders. "Understand?"  Draco wondered for a moment why Harry was even letting him get this close without cursing him (A/N: so am I, but ah well… this is my first HP fic after all).

          Harry was furious.

          "How… how could you??  What if there's an emergency and someone other than you or my friends had to touch me?  And," Harry tried to stumble back away from Draco, who seemed to be getting closer and closer to him.  The only thing that it resulted in was Draco moving his arms around Harry's waist.  "What about Hagrid?  I hug him, shake his hand, and stuff like that… and what about the Weasley twins?  I shake hands with them, mostly after Quidditch practice and matches!"  

Harry's green eyes blazed with intensity as he continued his rant.  "And have you forgotten my other friends- Seamus, Dean, and Neville?  And what about Professor McGonagall?  Or even Dumbledore?  If they get hurt because of your idiotic Protection charm-!"  Harry struggled in Draco's arms harder, trying to break free.

          Draco brought Harry into a stronger embrace, strengthening his hold, "I will be telling everyone at lunch tomorrow about it.  But, unfortunately, I could only have two other people able to touch you without getting hurt.  If I could alter the charm any more, I would, but it's too late now."

          Harry flushed a deep red from head to toe, but then snapped out of it when he realized that the warm body against his was Draco Malfoy's.  "So why did you put this Protection spell on me?"  He asked after calming himself more.

          "I hope that you will believe me when I say this," Draco gently moved his head forward more, their noses almost touching.  "But I've been having such terrible nightmares about you getting killed by something very dreadful."  He decided to leave the details out (A/N: as did me, apparently).

          "Like that's news!"  Harry scoffed, "Anyways, wouldn't you be happy to have me dead?" (A/N: Can't you just see the confusion in Harry's face here?  Er… I hope you can, anyways.)

          Draco sighed, but it sounded more like a low growl, "Only *I* have the privilege to defeating you.  No one else!" he slowly trailed a finger along Harry's jaw line, "Nobody else should have the pleasure to but me.  When the time comes, I will win you fair and square.  Nobody else will have that privilage!"

          Harry stood there, still enveloped in Draco's arms, transfixed.

          "Only I will get the pleasure to hearing you beg me for mercy," Draco went on, leaning in, touching Harry's nose with his. "Me and me only, Potter."  (A/N: Could he be even more obvious here? ^_^) He moved some of Harry's bangs away from his forehead, and traced a finger over the lightning scar.  He gave Harry a half smile, half smirk.

          Harry glowered, "Possessive brat, aren't you?"

          "Sometimes.  Although when I am, I can be quite fierce.  And even protective." Draco smirked.  "Well, I must go now.  Sleep well."  He turned back around.

          Harry stumbled with words, thinking of what he was supposed to say.  He was so used to their usual snide remarks to each other that this sort of thing was completely out of his league.  What do you say to a person who had been your rival from day one, competed with you in almost everything, and then suddenly turned around and started to act all caring and possessive?  What did it mean?

          Draco waved his wand and took off the Deafening spell from around the other four beds before walking out.

          Just before Draco clicked the door shut, he heard Harry whisper, "Good night, Draco."

~TBC~

[1] Thanks to LadyViolet for a more understanding description:

Many young wizards and witches did not appreciate the subtle differences between a Silencing Charm and a Deafening Charm, but Draco was one of the few who had, even before Professor Flitwick's lecture a few months ago. Silencing Charms allowed people within a given area to discuss anything as loudly as they wished, and no one outside that particular area would hear a thing. Those within the area, however, could hear sounds outside of it. Deafening Charms, on the other hand, were so that the people within a given area couldn't hear any sound originating outside that area. Sounds made within that area, however, could be heard by anyone within earshot.

A/N: Well then… all I did in this chapter is fix a few errors and write in some more action going on, but not much.  You may also notice that I have been picking on my own writing.  I will probably do that through the fic.  Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone too much.

I will see to redoing the next part to this soon.  Those that have read this before and have liked it, I thank you for re-reading it.  Those that are new to my trilogy, welcome, and I hope that you like it as well.  please remember that this is my very first fic, and even though it'll be editted somewhat, it may have some cliches, but that's because- yes- this is my **first** HP fic.

Reviewing would be nice, but it's not essential. ^_^


	2. Defying the elders

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: THIS IS MY FIRST HP FIC!  I'm just editting it, and reposting it.  savvy?

Protégé part 2

**Warnings**: This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  _you've been warned lots now._  Do not harass the author, please.

**(Old notes:)** Note that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).  So hopefully I will do a pretty decent story telling job for this universe.

**(New notes)** I am rewriting this for a repost.  This is the first part in my trilogy, in which I need a name for, I think.  The second part of the trilogy is called Move Heaven and Earth, and the third is called Evil Begets Evil.  I don't know how much will be changed, since I'm writing this note first before I edit.  If anything does change, I will make note of it at the end of the chapter. (and I may make fun of my own fic once in a while, but hey- it is my first HP fic I've ever written.)

**Date first written:**  _July 4, 2002_

Contents:  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, adventure (let's hope), and slight adult things.

Pairings: Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (for now)

Year: 6th 

Disclaimer:  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.

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          Ron finally saw Harry emerge from the Gryffindor hall, walking very carefully to their table.  He noticed, with some surprise, that Harry had backed away when his sister tried to greet him.  Something was wrong.  Harry usually gave Ginny a hug when he saw her.

          When Harry sat down between Ron and Hermione, his best friend was giving him a dubious look.

          "Harry, what in the world was that about?"

          "What do you mean?"  Asked Harry, taking a bite of his pancakes.

          "What you just did!  You just *snubbed* my sister!"  At that moment, Ginny sat down at the table, facing Harry and her brother with a small frown on her face.

          "Harry?  Are you mad at me?"

          Harry looked up from his plate in surprise, "No!  Of course not.  I'm not mad at you.  Why would I be mad at you?"

          "Then what's your problem?" Ron said with a small sneer.

          "I just- it's just…"  he wasn't sure how he should explain it.  He had planned on telling his friends about everything first and see if they thought he should let anyone know.  He was just thinking things through in his head, when someone interrupted him.

          "Hey, Harry!"  It was Neville.  "I heard that you got fifteen points for us during Divination and Charms yesterday!  Nice going!"  He moved his hand to pat Harry on the back.  Not a good idea.  "AHHHH!"  Sparks flew and snaked around Neville's hand.  He jerked his hand away and instantly started to rub it.  Everyone around that saw had their eyes bugging out of their heads.  Everyone that didn't see it was now looking on with interest, wondering what just happened.

          "I'm sorry, Neville!  I didn't mean to…" Harry started.

          "My god, Harry!" Ron gasped, "Why did you attack him??"

          "I was going to tell you guys…"

          "What's going on?"  Professor McGonagall interrupted.

          "Harry attacked Neville!"  Someone from the Ravenclaw table said.

          "I didn't mean to!  I was about to tell everyone…"

          "I'm surprised at you, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said, shaking her head.  "I expected something like this from Mr. Malfoy or even Mr. Goyle, but you?"

          "Professor, please, let me to explain."  Harry pleaded.  He glanced quickly over at the Slytherin table and noticed that Draco was trying not to laugh.  He glared at the blond Slytherin before turning his attention back to McGonagall.

          "Then explain yourself, and it better be good or I'll have to take points away from Gryffindor."

          "I…" Harry looked back over at the Slytherin's table and saw the look of horror cross Draco's face.  Well, wasn't Draco supposed to tell everyone anyways?  Why was the blond wizard taking his time to do so in the first place?  If Draco got mad at him for telling, it was his fault for not saying anything like he was supposed to.

          "Yes, Harry?" Professor McGonagall urged.

          "Well, Malfoy was supposed to tell you all this, but it looks like I'm gonna have to." He looked up at his teacher with doleful eyes, "I'm—I'm cursed."

          Most everyone around him gasped.

          Suddenly there was a loud slam at the Slytherin's table.

          "IT'S NOT A CURSE, YOU MORON!  IT'S A BLOODY PROTECTION CHARM!"

          Another round of gasps was heard.  The entire Great Hall went silent, and they were all staring at Draco.  Even Professor Snape was in some shock.

          "Protection charm, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor McGonagall asked.

          Draco cleared his throat, "Yes.  Uh—I was about to make the announcement, but then Longbottom had to go and screw it all up for me!"

          Professor McGonagall shook her head, pressing her lips into a fine line, "We can't have students putting Charms on one another." She whipped out her wand and waved it at Harry.  "_Finite incantatem_."

          Ron reached over and put a tentative hand on Harry's shoulder.  He smiled when he didn't get shocked like Neville had.  Just before anyone else could say something, Draco spoke up.

          "That won't work."

          Professor McGonagall looked over at him and narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean?"

          Draco smirked, "I tweaked the charm a bit.  Only *I* am able to take the charm off."

          Ron blinked in confusion, "But I can touch him just fine!"

          "Yes, of course you can, because when I put it on him, I made it so that only me, you, and Granger can touch him.  Everyone and everything else that breathes—will—get—shocked."

          McGonagall tisked, shaking her head, "Bad form, Mr. Malfoy.  Ten points from Slytherin."  There were loud groans of displeasure from the Slytherin table.  "Unless," she continued, calming Snape's students, "you remove the charm from him, then I'll only take five points."

          Everybody watched as Draco stared at Harry.  The wheels inside his head were turning as he stood in a trance like state.  They all held their breaths in anticipation to see what he would do.  The blond never made a move for his wand, or even moved from his spot.

          "I can't do that, Professor McGonagall." Draco said sternly and stubbornly.  "Sorry."

          "No," McGonagall sighed, "I'm sorry.  Five *more* points from Slytherin."  The whole Slytherin table groaned and many glared at the blond, who still stood poised and proper.  Even Snape was shaking his head in dismay.  "And also, Mr. Malfoy, you will go directly to Dumbledore's office after you've finished eating."

          As Draco slumped back into his seat, he felt a wave of piercing stares looking at him.  He didn't even want to know if they were happy for him for putting that spell on Harry and refusing to take it off, or if they were mad at him for getting fifteen points taken away from Slytherin.  He stared down at his breakfast, picking at the eggs on his plate.  Was he doing the right thing by protecting _Harry Potter_?  He was starting to wonder if he were sick.

~*~

          He stood in front of Dumbledore's office entrance, gathering his courage.  He was getting ready to tell the old man off if he had to.  If the old wizard wanted him to back out on trying to protect Harry, then he had another thing coming.

          He thought about it for a minute.  What should he be scared of anyways?  He was the one in charge here!  Only he can take the Protection spell off of Potter.  And if the old coot tried to threaten him at all, he could just walk away and vow to never release the spell from their beloved hero.  With that new thought in mind, he stepped boldly into Dumbledore's office.

          "It sure took you a while to come in, Mr. Malfoy."

          Draco was startled only for a second, not wanting the old man to get the upper hand with him.  "I was thinking about skipping and going back to my room."

          "Oh?  And get into even more trouble?"

          "Better that than being forced into doing something I don't want to do."

          The elder wizard smiled slightly, crossing his hands in front of him on his desk. "And just what would that be?"

          Draco started, blinking in some surprise at the Professor, but then quickly went back to his smugness.  "Well, you're all knowing, aren't you?  You should know what it is that Professor McGonagall sent me up here for."

          Professor Dumbledore bowed his head slightly, giving a firm nod.  "I see.  And you will go against our wishes and not release Harry from your spell?"

          Draco shook his head firmly, clenching his fists tightly.

          Dumbledore sighed, "Then tell me, Mr. Malfoy, just why have you decided to protect your worst enemy?"

          The word 'enemy' was something that Draco had heard many, many times.  That described the way they were, what the relationship between them was.  But his *worst* enemy?  That he wasn't sure.  Ron had called him that once, about him and Potter being number one enemies, but that was just Weasely.  He knew that Weasely hated him, so it was natural for the weasel to say that about him.  But, now that Professor Dumbledore had said it…

          Draco shook his head, "I do not believe that we are *worst* enemies, sir.  At least not anymore."

          Professor Dumbledore didn't seem shocked in hearing this.  Whether that was good or not, Draco wasn't sure. "Oh?  That explains some of it."

          Draco looked at him funny, cocking his head sideways.  "Explains what?"

          "Why don't you have a seat, Mr. Malfoy?  Surely you can discuss what is going on with me?"

          Draco looked away, unsure of what he should do.  He didn't want to retell any of his nightmares to anyone.  It was just too much.  And not only that, but it felt like a weakness.  The nightmare, or nightmares, have had a major impact on him, and they made him feel weak.  It was something he couldn't control.  And even if he could explain the horror he saw during his dream, he wasn't ready to explain how he felt when he saw… Draco gulped.

          "You are suffering, I know." Professor Dumbledore said softly. "But you will suffer even more if you do not tell me everything.  Do not be afraid to tell me that you feel frightened."

          That got Draco's attention, and he looked up at the old Professor in shock.

          "Afraid??  Me?  Ha!"  He placed his hands on his hips, "I wasn't _'Frightened'_.  I am not afraid of some silly dream."

          "But, it wasn't just the usual strange dream, was it?  It was a nightmare."

          Draco ground his teeth together. 'Damn him!  Damn the old man anyway!'  He really wasn't about to tell Dumbledore anything.  "So, it was a nightmare.  Big deal!  I have nightmares all the time.  They don't faze me."

          "Ah." Dumbledore stroked his long beard, "So you have frequent nightmares.  But tell me, Mr. Malfoy, do you have any normal dreams?"

          Without thinking, Draco shrugged and nodded his head, "Well, yeah, of course I do."

          "Then how can you tell a normal dream from a nightmare?  When one has a *scary* dream, it's usually called a nightmare, is it not?"

          Draco gulped and hung his head.  He was busted and he knew it.

          "It is all right, Draco." The Headmaster said with a small smile. "One cannot control one's own dreams.  If they could, they'd never have a single nightmare."  Draco looked up, determined not to waver.  "So, you have this nightmare often, right?  Tell me what it's about.  What parts stick in your head the most?"

          "I don't have a choice, do I?"

          Dumbledore chuckled, "It's either that or stay here and wait for the other teachers to come in and hear you tell it.  If you just tell me, then I will keep it a secret until you are ready to have everyone know the whole truth."

          Draco walked slowly to a seat that was facing the front of Professor Dumbledore's desk.  He let out a long, heavy sigh and tried his best to think up the freshest pictures of the nightmare in his mind.

          "The first thing I remember is… I'm in the Slytherin dungeons, I think.  Not sure.  I am walking rather fast through a hallway that's barely lit.  For some reason I know where to go.  I suddenly find myself in this room with floating… some things are floating… it's hard to make out."  Draco sighed, massaging his temples with his fingertips.

          "So then, I see this _thing_, "Draco continued, "It's tall and bulky… wide… vicious looking… with teeth or claws.  And the next thing I can remember is…"  Draco shuddered lightly, not wanting Dumbledore to notice.  He wasn't sure if he should tell him this part.  This was the part that he had been dreading to tell ever since he stood before the Headmaster's office door.

          Dumbledore looked like he wanted to urge the Slytherin boy on, but he kept a tight lip.  He secretly hoped that Draco would tell him though.

          Draco looked up into the old man's smoky eyes and then he looked back down at the cement floor.  "I'm sorry, Professor, the image is kind of blurry."

          "It is a person then?" Dumbledore asked. "The blurry image, I mean."

          Draco bit his bottom lip.  The figure in his dream was indeed a person.  And this certain person fell and hit the ground hard.  This certain person was in every nightmare he had for the past five days.  This person was indeed… someone he had to keep a secret.

          "I think so." Draco finally admitted, swallowing hard.

          "So, if I put one and one together…. I get what?"

          "Um… the answer?"

          "Which is?" 

          Draco raised a brow. "Who the person is?"

          "Two, my boy.  One and one is two!  Or have you forgotten?" the old wizard smiled.

          'He really is mad.' Draco thought, still staring confusingly at the Headmaster.

          "Draco… I meant that I have figured out who the person in your dream was.  Since you *have* placed a Protection Charm on him, after all."

          Draco gulped.  He couldn't defy the Headmaster any more of what the rest of his nightmare was.  He nodded.

          "Ah." Dumbledore smiled, "So you saw Harry in danger in your nightmare… and all of a sudden decided to protect him?  Your reason, Mr. Malfoy?"

          "My reason?  Ah, well, you know… if anything happened to Potter, I would be first to blame."

          "But, you would still be innocent before proven guilty, and if it wasn't you, then you would have nothing to worry about."

          "Um, I don't want him dead." Draco blurted out.  He covered up his mouth real quick with his hands.

          "And why is that, Mr. Malfoy?"

          "Er, well… because I want to be the one to… um…" Draco looked away.

          "You want to be the one to defeat Harry, and not some other… thing.  Am I right?"

          Draco nodded.  There was something else he wanted, but that was still on the back burner.

          Professor Dumbledore sighed, taking his half-moon specs off to rub at the corners of his eyes.  "Mr. Malfoy, I am very touched that you would want to protect Harry, but I must ask that you take the Protection Spell off.  You see, it sets a very bad example for the other students, and may cause some to try doing it themselves.  You should take the charm off."

          Draco's eyes went wide.  "But Professor…"

          Dumbledore stopped any more whining or complaining with just one slight look.  Draco slumped his shoulders in defeat and sighed heavily.

          "You will go and undo the spell now.  And then you will have Professor Trelawny have a look at your nightmare."

          Draco was stumped to why Dumbledore would prescribe Trelawny but nodded anyway and got up to leave.  Before he got far, Dumbledore stopped him. "By the way, Mr. Malfoy, you might like to know that you're approaching Harry wrong.  Try something more idealistic and simple."

          Draco turned to give the wizard an odd look. "Sir?"

          "Try flowers."

~TBC~

Well, all I editted in this part was a few words and added a tiny bit more action, and that's it.  In future chapters I might have some characters from book 5 make an appearance, and I may even delete certain ones. *ahem*

Feedback is nice, but not really necessary, since this is a repost. ^_^  those of you new to my trilogy, thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy my fic! :)


	3. A Kiss and a Rose

Protégé part 3

Warnings and notes: This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  _You've been warned lots now._  Do not harass the author, please.

**(New notes)** I am rewriting this for a repost.  This is the first part in my trilogy, in which I need a name for, I think.  The second part of the trilogy is called Move Heaven and Earth, and the third is called Evil Begets Evil.  I don't know how much will be changed, since I'm writing this note first before I edit.  If anything does change, I will make note of it at the end of the chapter. (and I may make fun of my own fic once in a while, but hey- it is my first HP fic I've ever written.)

Contents:  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, adventure (let's hope), and maybe lime.

First written: July 9, 2002

Pairings: Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione

Year: 6th 

Disclaimer:  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.  I will read the others, I promise!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          Harry came down for dinner and met his friends at the table.  They were already there because Hermione had been tutoring Ron in subjects that he needed work on.  Specifically Potions and Transfirguration.

          "Do you get it now?" Harry heard Hermione say as he sat down next to Ron.

          Ron looked like he was trying very hard to understand the difficult assignment for Potions and he gave her his patent confused expression.

          Harry leaned over to look at what they were working on, his shoulder just brushing Ron's, which made the red-head startle a bit.

          "Sorry." Harry mumbled.

          Ron smiled, "It's ok, Harry.  I was just too involved in trying to understand Hermione." Then he laughed, "It's not like you can shock me or anything."

          "No, of course not."  Harry shook his head.  He almost forgot that he was a walking lightning bolt.

          Hermione took a bite of her apple and chewed it slowly while the two boys talked.  She had a feeling that once Harry got there, there wouldn't be as much work getting done as she originally planned.  Although Hermione didn't appreciate being interrupted, especially when there was a test the next day, she still liked to watch her two best friends yap at one another.

          "Speaking of which," Ron said, moving his book aside, "Have you heard from Malfoy?  Or even Professor Dumbledore?"

          Harry shook his head. "Not a word.  I don't even know if they'll let Draco keep this charm on me."

          Ron gave him a weird look, "Oh?  So, it's 'Draco' now?  Not Malfoy?"

          Harry stuttered, "I-I meant Malfoy!  I did!  It just slipped."  He turned his head to hide the small blush.

          Ron looked over at Hermione, whom was giving him that same knowing look.

~**~

          Harry had finished with his dinner sooner than the other two, which was mainly because they were still studying, and wandered back to the Gryffindor common room.

          He was deep in thought; head down as he watched his feet, not paying attention to what was in front of him.  His forehead hit something rather solid.

          "Watch where you're going, Potter." The deep voice grumbled.

          Harry's head snapped up.  He blinked owlishly into scowling stormy eyes.  The very solid thing he had hit was Malfoy's chest, just barely missing his chin.

          "Sorry." Harry muttered, feeling a slight blush coming on for some odd reason.

          Draco placed his hands onto Harry's shoulders, "You're lucky that it was me and not someone that would end up getting the shock of their lives.   Then what would you do?"

          "Look, I'm not in the mood for this."  Harry moved away from that heaving chest, trying to control himself.  "Tell me what Dumbledore said."

          "That's none of your concern." Draco sniffed, putting his nose in the air.

          "So he didn't tell you to take the charm off of me?"

          "Well… of course he did."

          Harry cocked an eyebrow, "And?"

          "And… I don't want to, yet." He grinned.

          "So you're gonna defy the Headmaster?"

          Draco shrugged.  "The old coot has no idea what he's talking about."

          "Did you tell him about your… dream?"

          Draco smiled, "Yes, and no.  I didn't go into detail."

          "You pretended not to remember it all, didn't you?"

          Draco laughed, "Very good, Potter.  You deserve a cookie."

          "Stop patronizing me and take the charm off like Dumbledore asked."

          "No." Draco snarled. "I will take the charm off when I'm good and ready to.  You're just gonna have to deal with it."

          "You're gonna get into more trouble if you defy him." Harry said, talking about the Headmaster.  His scowl deepened when the Slytherin put his hands on his hips and started to pull him forward.  "Don't even start with me."

          "What?" Draco asked innocently. "Don't you go nutters not being able to touch someone?"

          Just for spite, Harry spat out, "I can touch Ron."

          Draco snarled.  "Yes, but he's your friend."

          Harry smiled, noticing the jealous look on Draco's face.  Bingo.  "So he is.  But, you made it so that I could touch him.  Oh yeah, and I can also touch Hermione as well."

          Draco's sneer stayed in place, "Aren't that Mudblood and weasel going out?"

          "They are?" Harry said, ignoring the comment made toward Hermione, "Oh yeah, that's right.  But I'm sure that they wouldn't mind sharing…"

          "What??" Draco's eyes flew open.  "Are you crazy, Potter??  Threesomes usually end badly!  Trust me, I know."

          "You've been in a threesome?" Harry gaped.

          "No, a friend of mine was.  It ended rather horribly.  Poor guy.  He really loved them too."

          "A boy and girl?"

          "No, two girls." Draco grinned. "The girls decided that they didn't need dick, so they dumped him."

          Harry swallowed a snicker, "What?"

          "That's what they said.  I found that funny myself, but I still felt bad for my friend."

          "Who?"

          "No one you know.  Anyway, I'd love to stay here and continue with our male bonding, so to speak, but I must return to the dungeons." He smirked.

          "Good.  I was getting tired of this charade myself."

          Draco smiled recalling that he still had his hands on Harry's hips.  He moved forward slightly and placed a small kiss on the bridge of Harry's nose.  Poor Harry didn't react fast enough and when he jerked his head to move, his glasses started to fall off of his face.  Draco chuckled as he placed his glasses back onto his nose.

          "Be careful there, Harry.  You wouldn't want to go walking around blind and accidentally run into someone."

          "Sod off, Malfoy." Harry yanked himself away from Draco's body.

          "This is what I get for worrying about you?" Draco huffed.  "Maybe I WILL take the charm off of you."

          "Then do it." Harry huffed.

          Draco smirked, placing his hands on his hips, "In due time.  Maybe tomorrow.  I can't risk having Longbottom or Finnigan crawling into your bed tonight, now can I?"

          "Very funny, Malfoy."

          "Well, see you at breakfast tomorrow." He sauntered around Harry, sliding his hand around Harry's waist until his fingertips lost contact.  This action turned Harry's body around and he watched the blond wizard go.  Draco looked over his shoulder and winked, making Harry feel a bit funny… all over.  "Bye, Harry." He purred.

          Harry continued to watch him walk down the corridor, and then he sighed, finally turning back around to go to the painting.  He was _not_ staring… he _was not_…

~*~

          That morning, Harry had woken to the sound of Ron shushing someone beside his bed.  When he got into the covers last night, he had pulled the curtains around his bed so that any movement wouldn't bother him.  He finally opened his eyes and sat up, listening to the hushed voices from behind his bed's curtain.

          "Don't disturb him, he had a bout with Malfoy last night and doesn't want to be bothered.  Just let him sleep."

          "I heard that Malfoy refused to take the charm off of him and that Dumbledore isn't too pleased about it."

          Harry nodded to himself.  Maybe Draco would get himself detention for doing this to him.

          "I heard that he's getting expelled because of it."  Neville said.

          "It's possible." He heard Ron say, sounding rather smug. "I'd sure be glad if he did, then we wouldn't have to worry about him anymore."

          "But what would Harry think?  You think he'd be upset by it?"

          "What?  Harry upset that Malfoy is leaving?  That's absurd!" Ron said, sounding like he was walking off somewhere.

          Harry searched for his glasses on the table beside him and then put them on.  He slowly got out of bed and walked quietly around the curtains.  Ron noticed him and smiled apologetically.

          "Sorry Harry, I didn't mean to wake you."

          "It's ok.  I should be getting up anyways."

          "Hey, good morning, Harry." Neville said, looking apologetic as well, "Um, we heard that Malfoy's getting kicked out."

          Harry looked a bit shocked, Ron noticed, but only took the shocked look as a surprised-relieved look, and not what it really was.

          "He is?  Are you sure?"

          "That's the rumor." Neville said.  He still looked apologetic.

          Harry began to dress frantically.  Ron seemed to know what was on Harry's mind. "What do you think you're doing?  This is Malfoy we're talking about here!  So what if he's getting expelled!"

          "I need to speak to Dumbledore." Harry pointed out.  He finally got his robe on.

          "But Harry… why must you?  I mean, he's your rival isn't he?  And he placed that protection charm on you; doesn't that make you mad?"

          "He's protecting me from something.  Him refusing to take the spell off shouldn't get him kicked out.  I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore and find out the truth."

          "Oh, that reminds me," Neville said quietly, "I heard another rumor that Professor Sprout is very sick.  They said that she accidentally got bitten by some strange and exotic plant and that she doesn't know what the cure is."

          Harry turned around to face Neville, "Professor Sprout?  Does Dumbledore know?"

          "Who doesn't?" Ron said.

          "I'll have to go visit her later.  Right now I need to go speak to Dumbledore."

          "Harry," Ron walked over and placed a warm and friendly hand on his shoulder, "I want you to know that I respect your concern for Malfoy, but I don't want you to be getting yourself into trouble for sticking up for him.  If it was me, then I'd say good riddance!"

          "And just how would I get the Protection Charm off if he's not here?" Harry asked, giving his red-haired friend a stern look.

          "Well… well… I'm sure that Dumbledore can think of something."

          "Fixed charms like this are extremely hard to take off.  We *need* Malfoy here so he can do it.  He just needs more persuasion, that's all."  Harry walked over to the door, "Don't worry about me, ok guys?  I'll see you later."  He quietly shut the door behind him.

          Ron sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Once a hero, always a hero."

~*~

          Harry easily recalled the new password into Dumbledore's office that Professor McGonagall told him.  The gargoyle moved to the side and Harry stepped carefully in.  He knocked, got the signal to enter, and then opened the door.  He took a seat in front of the Headmaster, not knowing that a few hours ago, Draco had just occupied that chair. Fawkes was sitting on his perch, his eyes fixed on Harry.

          "Welcome, Harry.  I take it you have something to talk to me about."

          "Yes, sir.  It's about Malfoy."

          "Ah, I see." Dumbledore said quickly.  "I take it you heard the rumors as well.  Bear in mind that I don't plan on kicking him out.  He was just worried that I would.  Or, rather, Severus was." Dumbledore chuckled at that, which made Harry do so as well.  "Yes, don't fret, Harry.  Draco will still be here.  He will just be serving detention, that's all."

          "Oh."  Harry smiled to himself; he had been right.  "So, is he going to take the spell off of me or not?"

          "He really doesn't want to, but I have a feeling that he will.  Severus gave him a good talking to this morning."

          Harry couldn't help but smile at that.  "Didn't know that he cared."

          "You would be surprised.  And he also tried to force Draco to tell him the entire nightmare, but Draco is still rather tight-lipped about it.  It really must be horrible if HE can't talk about it.  Professor Snape is wondering why a nightmare about you should bother him.  He figured that Draco would be happy about it."

          "That's what I thought as well." Harry said.  He blushed slightly as he remembered how close their bodies were that one night he visited him.  "Sir?  How do you think we'd be able to get him to reverse the charm on me?"

          Professor Dumbledore began to stroke his beard, "That is something that I've been pondering myself.  It seems to me that you're going to be the one to provoke him into doing it.  If he's not listening to Severus, then he won't listen to anyone else.  Maybe you might be able to succeed."

          Harry nodded to show his understanding.

          "So," Dumbledore said, "Was that all you wanted to ask?  Or was there something else?"

          Harry sighed, standing up, "I think that's all, sir.  Thank you."

          "You're welcome, Harry.  But if there's anything else you need to talk about, I'm always here."

          "I know."  Before Harry exited, he turned back around, "Oh, um, sir?  About Professor Sprout…"

          "Yes, I know.  It's most tragic."

          "What kind of plant was it?"

          "Something new that Sprout as never seen before.  She claimed that it just suddenly appeared out of thin air.  A real mystery.  She went to touch it to see if it needed any water or nutrients, and it lashed out and bit her.  She said that before she passed out, she saw tiny sharp teeth on each leaf.  We discovered that she had been poisoned by the plant, and we are trying everything in our power to help her."

          "Isn't there something that can cure poisons?"

          Dumbledore nodded, "Yes.  But for some reason we can't find any Bezoars."

          "Bezoars?" Harry stopped himself, suddenly remembering what Snape had told him years ago. "Oh, that!  Professor Snape said that it cured most poisons.  Are you saying that Madam Pomfrey is all out?"

          "All of them mysteriously disappeared around the same time as the plant appeared.  No one knows why someone had targeted her of all people.  We are trying our best to make sure that she gets through this."

          "Bezoar…" Harry thought out loud, thinking back to what Snape said where a bezoar could be found. "Isn't that inside something's stomach?"

          "A goat." Dumbledore nodded.

          "Then we'll just get a goat."

          "It's not as easy as it sounds, Harry.  Please don't worry about such things right now.  Snape is doing his best to finding out where one is located.  You should be off to your first class anyways."

          "Oh yeah." Harry blushed, remembering that he came up here first thing when he woke up.  "I'll talk to you later, sir."

          "Of course.  Bye, Harry."

          Harry's last thought as he left Dumbledore's office was, 'Why can't Snape find a goat?  Or is it hard to find one with a bezoar inside of it's stomach?  Or maybe all the goats were already emptied.

          An image of Snape with a billy goat popped into Harry's mind.  He laughed at the sudden image, but muffled his laughter when a second year looked at him funny.

          Harry wanted to say, 'Yes, I'm going crazy.  So what's new?'  He thought imagining Snape with a goat made him nuts, but when he thought of Draco again and didn't feel any hate… 'I belong in St. Mungo's!'

~*~

          It was finally lunchtime, and Draco's stomach was rumbling like a purring tiger.  For once, nothing else was on his mind but filling his stomach with some delicious BLTs.  Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich… and French toast.  One of his favorite every day foods.  With syrup.  Scrumptious golden brown maple syrup on bright yellow toast.  Wonderfully drenched in syrup.

          '_Potter covered in maple syrup…'_

          'The hell?  Where'd that thought come from?' Draco mused.  He pushed that thought aside immediately once he got in the main hall.  "Why am I not surprised?" He groaned to himself when he saw that Harry was already there, helping himself to some of the sandwiches, and then he began to pour syrup over what Draco believed to be French toast on his plate.  His mind instantly sprang back to that image of Potter lying on his back, in his bed, covered in hot, sticky maple syrup. Draco growled in frustration.

          "Something wrong?" Pansy asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

          "No." Draco drawled out.  "I'm fine."

          "Just in a cranky mood, huh?  I can totally understand." She smiled.

          Draco grunted as he poured his syrup over his own French toast.  He tried his hardest NOT to think about what he did last night, the conversation he had with Professor Dumbledore, and about the white rose that he decided to buy. That would surely get Harry to trust him more, wouldn't it?  It should, Draco resolved, if not, he had to do some serious beating on an old coot who could see through his haughty disguise.

          "So did you take that charm off of Potter yet?" Goyle asked as he speared a piece of meat from his plate.

          "No, I haven't.  Just leave me alone about that." Draco snapped.  He took a chuck of French toast and shoved it into his mouth.

          "Ok fine.  Be that way."

          Draco ignored the big hulking boob as he stared over at Potter, who was in a conversation with the Mudblood, Granger.  She was smiling and laughing at whatever he said, and then she patted him on the shoulder.  Draco felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up.  The fork in his hand was beginning to bend slightly.

          After a while, Pansy spoke up. "More Potter watching?  I swear that will become some kind of twisted sport for you."

          "Oh stuff it, Parkinson!" Draco sneered, determined to clean his plate now and get the hell out of the room before anyone got suspicious.  He poked at a piece of toast the best he could with his bent utensil.

^**^

          'He's staring at me, isn't he?' Harry thought to himself, slipping his eyes over at the Slytherin table.  Sure enough, he saw that Draco had his eyes on him, watching him carefully.  Harry quickly averted his eyes and tried to continue eating without blushing stupidly.

          Then, suddenly there was a flapping of wings filling the air.  Harry could almost do a jinx with Ron, knowing just what he was gonna say and when he was gonna say it.

          "The mail's here!" Ron said, right on schedule.

          Harry smiled, knowing that he was right.  Different colored owls swooped down at the tables, dropping packages and letters here and there. And then, suddenly, an eagle owl swooped by and landed in front of Harry.

          "The hell?"  Ron exclaimed.  In the owl's beak was a single white rose, and on its leg was a small note.  It squawked at him with impatience, its round haunting eyes boring through him.  Yes, it was definitely a Malfoy owl.

          Everyone else was 'ooo'-ing and 'aww'-ing at the sight.  There were some gasps when the owl was recognized.

          "No way…"  Hermione said, blinking rapidly.  "It can't be…"

          Harry took the note with a shaky hand and read it.

          _White roses currently mean innocence and purity, which describes you very well.  The original meaning also strikes true:  An end to innocence and purity.  For Harry Potter, I would oh-so like to do to you._

_          With deepest condolences,_

_                    Draco_

The owl dropped the rose and took off, leaving one of it's feathers as well.  Harry stuffed the letter quickly into his robe, and was surprised when his friends didn't even ask him what the letter said.

          "Um, Harry?  What does this all mean?" Hermione asked.

          Ron sighed, resting his chin on an open palmed hand.  "I think I know.  He's trying to apologize for keeping that charm on you, isn't he, Harry?"

          Harry shrugged, not too sure about the meaning of it all either, but he had a faint suspicion.  And of course, that faint suspicion was that when Draco held him close and kissed him on the forehead… and also the nose…

          Harry picked up the feather from the table, noting that it would make a perfect new quill.  And then, with a shaking hand, he finally picked up the single white rose (which was still half-way wrapped in plastic).  He looked over at the Slytherin table to get a good look at Malfoy, but he wasn't there.

~TBC~

Thanks for reading. :)


	4. A Boding Prediction

Title: protégé part 4 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.  And there is some strong language in here! 

(Notes, old and new, are in the beginning and stuff)

**Contents:**  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst (some fluff), adventure (let's hope), and some adult content.

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Boding Prediction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          "The red rose whispers of passion, and the white rose breathes of love; oh the red rose is a falcon, and the white rose is a dove.  But I send you a cream-white rosebud, with a flush on its petal tips; for the love that is purest and sweetest, has a kiss of desire on the lips.  John Boyle O'Reilly, 1844-1890."  Draco sighed, playing with the corner edge of the book's page.  "Huh, sounds kinda mushy."

          He'd been debating, ever since he sent Harry that first single white rose, if he should send another and put some kind of poem with it.  For some reason, he had been thinking about giving him a different colored rose.  An orange one, perhaps.  Maybe even skip that color crap all together and get him a dozen red roses.  But there was a problem with this.

          "Does he even *like* getting flowers?"  Draco sighed.  Dumbledore had suggested the flowers thing, but Draco just couldn't see why _Harry Potter_ of all people, would even like flowers.  He noticed the shocked look on Harry's face, but still. . . "Did he like the rose I sent him?"

          Deciding on waiting a bit more before sending another flower, or whatever he decided to get him, he folded the small parchment with the poem on it and stuck it into the drawer of his writing desk.  "Maybe some other day." Draco mused aloud, smirk firmly in place.

          That was when Goyle and Crabbe decided to walk in.

          "So, Draco. . . about this protection thing?"

          Draco's eyes rose up lazily to meet the other Slytherins' eyes. "Yes?"

          "Well, me and Crabbe are confused.  Do you have it on him so that he isn't able to touch people, except you, to put him through misery or are you doing it to really protect him?"

          A couple things impressed Draco.  One: that Goyle spoke that rather fluently, and two: that they had asked about this matter sooner than expected.  But he also realized that Goyle forgot that Harry could also touch his two friends and not just him.

          "Well, first of all," Draco sighed with annoyance, "It's none of your concern why I'm doing this.  For all you know, I really just placed a type of curse that looks like the protection charm.  And two, it probably won't last long anyways since Dumbledore and Professor Snape want me to take it off of him."

          "Are you gonna do it?" Crabbe asked.  "Cause if you're really protecting Potter. . ."

          Draco shook his head and glared, "You two really are dense, aren't you?  Well, yeah, eventually I'll take this spell off of him.  But not right now.  I wanna watch him suffer a while longer not able to touch most people."

          "Good plan, Draco.  You're the Dragon-man!"

          Draco sighed, with annoyance, again.  He was getting sick of Crabbe calling him that.  He almost snapped at him when he realized that they were now staring straight at the newest white rosebud that he had on his desk.

          "Um, Draco?"

          Draco snatched the rose off of his desk and stuffed it into a drawer and then placed a locking spell on it.  "That is NONE of your business!  Now leave."

          "Were you gonna send that to Potter??"

          "No!  I got the idea from Potter's secret admirer and I'm planning on giving it to Pansy.  Now go!  I want some time alone to think.  Go!!"  He shouted when they didn't budge.  They turned and nearly ran into one another trying to get out of the room.

          "Idiots."

~*~

          Harry picked up the creamy white rose to place into a long, tall vase that Hermione had given him.  The vase was a pearl color, which matched the white bud perfectly, and the design on it was a small green snake.  It seemed to fit so well that it was eerie.

          He just moved his thumb a bit too close to a thorn when he removed his hand from the stem.  "AHH!"  He jerked his hand away, holding his thumb.  Crimson trickled down the green stem of the rose and down his finger.

          "Are you ok, Harry?" Seamus asked when he heard Harry cry out.

          "Yeah, I'll be fine." He glared at the rose, watching a drop of his blood dangle from the edge of a thorn.  "Stupid git didn't even cut the thorns off!"

          "So it's true then?" Seamus asked.  "Did you really get this rose from Malfoy?"

          Harry wanted to lie about the whole ordeal, but he knew that since Ron and Hermione already knew who it was from, it shouldn't matter if Seamus knew as well.  "Yeah, it's true."

          "Do you know why he did it?"

          Harry shrugged. "Not really."  It wasn't a lie.  He had a sneaky suspicion, but then again, this was Malfoy.  The friendly kisses that Draco gave him were probably to get him confused.  Maybe that was why he sent him a rose, too.  He was sure that there was no way that he was sending him the flower to apologize.  Was Malfoy done with the whole thing, or was he going to receive more flowers?  And more importantly, why did he actually *like* getting the rose from him?

          "Well, I'm going down to the library to study.  See you later, Harry."

          "Yeah, see you." Harry said, still staring straight at the rose.  He unwrapped his hand from around his finger and stuck his bleeding digit between his lips.  The sharp, tangy taste of blood filled his mouth.  He hoped that he didn't need to go to Madam Pomfrey.  It wouldn't be a good idea to have more people know.  Although, Harry never told Ron, Hermione, or Seamus to keep it a secret.  "Oh — fuck."

~*~

          Draco just made it to his prearranged appointment with Professor Trelawny.  When he opened the door, she stood there, crystal ball before her, and a smile on her face.

          "I knew it was you, Mr. Malfoy.  Of course, I DO see all."

          He groaned inwardly, "Professor Trelawny. . . you knew it was me because I'm the only one that made an appointment with you. . ."

          "Silence!" she suddenly rasped, "I'm picking something up…" she placed a hand on her temple and the other hand on the crystal ball.  "Oh yes, I see… you are troubled, Mr. Malfoy.  You have been troubled by a dream…"

          Well, duh!  Draco wanted to say.  Dumbledore had said that he already told her some of the reasons why he needed to be there.  He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

          "You are. . . protecting someone!" She suddenly shouted.

          Draco made a strangling noise.  Of course he was, the stupid wench!  Everyone knew about the Protection charm on Harry.  He shook his head in dismay as he thought back to the conversation he had with Professor Snape.

~**~

          _"So, no matter how many times I ask, you won't do it?"  Snape said with that shifty look in his eyes._

          _"No, sir.  Sorry.  It was as if. . . as if life itself stopped when…when Potter…"_

          _Snape halted his sentence when he placed a hand on his shoulder, startling him.  "Draco, I must tell you something that I haven't told any other student."  Draco stood there, looking straight into the Professor's eyes, waiting for some kind of grave news about having nightmares about one's enemies.  "You know that I don't care much for Potter.  His father and I were rivals since day one."_

          _Draco gasped, but stayed quiet, waiting for his favorite teacher to continue._

          _"He did something foolish once.  And I'll never forget it.  That is also why I had tried to save his son during your first year."_

          _"What did he do, Professor?"_

          _"He saved my life."  Draco looked shocked.  "Yes.  James Potter saved my life.  I owed him.  So, that is why I am wondering why you have placed this Protection charm on Potter.  Did he do something to make you want to repay him?"_

          _Draco thought about this for a while, "Well. . . not really."  Was that even the truth?  Draco wasn't too sure himself._

          _"Then take the charm off of him.  He is a big boy now and he doesn't need your protection, or your help.  Do you understand?"_

          _Draco nodded his head once, "Yes, sir."_

^**^

          "It is Harry Potter!"  Professor Trelawny shouted, shaking Draco out of his reverie.

          "Look, Professor, everyone *knows* that it's him!  I'm supposed to tell you about my nightmare and you're supposed to explain to me what it means."

          "Then come, sit here." She motioned at the chair in front of her.  Draco obeyed, and sat down on the soft, cushioned chair.  She began to mumble something and then she said, "Ok.  Tell me about your nightmare, young Malfoy, and I will help you in any way I can."

          "All right, here goes.  But promise me that you won't tell anyone, ok?"

          "Fine.  I won't.  Now, if you please. . ."

          "Ok."  Draco sighed, closing his eyes in concentration, trying his best to remember as much as he can.  "I'm walking in a dimly lit hallway."

          "You are in the dungeons!" She yelled.

          "Er, yes.   For what I could tell at the time.  I feel as if I'm in a hurry to get somewhere.  When I arrive at this room, Harry… I mean, Potter is already there… fighting something.  Or he's *trying* to fight something.  He's got his wand out… my heart's hammering in my chest as I pull out my wand to help him, I don't know why I feel like I have to, but I do.  The _thing_ that he's fighting isn't clear in my head for some reason, like it's not really there, but it is.  Next thing I remember, the thing had a hold of him, shakes him wildly, and then he fell to the ground… bleeding everywhere… the horrible look in his lifeless eyes were facing me.  As I screamed his name, feeling of something like doom filling me, and then I swished my wand at the monster… I'm not sure if I hurt it or what but the next thing I know I'm running over to Potter and then… everything goes black.  Then I wake up."

          Draco waited only for a few seconds, and then Trelawny groaned.

          "Harry Potter will die!  He will die!" She looked forlornly into her crystal ball, "He will perish if you take the Protection charm off of him!"

          "I knew it!" Draco grinned.

          "He will also perish if you leave it on him!"

          Draco's face dropped.  "What?"

          "He will die, also, if he is to go near the Slytherin dungeons!  He will!"

          "So, do I take the charm off of him or not?" Draco asked, feeling annoyed.

          "It is up to you." She sighed, "Either way. . . _he will die._"

          "Up to me?  Look, you're supposed to be helping me figure out my dream, not tell me that he will die!  So what does it mean??"

          Trelawny looked up into his face, in an almost spooky way, and said, "_you will change._  _And you will go through tough times._"

          "Well, duh." Draco said, huffing.

          "_And also…_ _Harry will die_. . ."

          "You said that already!"

          _"By your hand, if you're not careful."_

          Draco's eyes widened.  He tossed his head back and forth, recovering from shock. "Well, of course he will.  He is supposed to die by MY hand!" He stood up with annoyance, "I'm leaving.  It's been real, Professor."

          "Take heed, young Malfoy!  Take heed!  It is dark times for you!  For the _both_ of you!"

          Draco waved a hand behind him in a cocky manner and left.

~*~

          In a rush, Harry popped in the last bit of a sandwich as he raced for the hospital wing.  He wanted to make sure that he had enough time to talk with Professor Sprout and figure out how he could help, if at all.  Not only that, but he wanted to visit with her and give her a 'get well soon' card that he made, and everyone had signed.  The front of it had a picture of a Mandrake crying, and when you open it, the inside said, "If you don't get well soon, I will cry as loud as twenty Mandrakes!"  Neville had helped him with that saying.

          "Be as quiet as you can." Madam Pomfrey said, putting a finger to her lips.  "She had just woke up and is experiencing a migraine."

          Harry nodded and carefully took a seat next to Professor Sprout.  She turned her head and looked at Harry for a moment before realizing whom it was, and then she smiled brightly.

          "Hey, Harry."  She said weakly.

          "Hi, Professor Sprout.  How do you feel?"

          "Tired.  It's like my whole body has been sucked dry of energy.  Even when I eat and sleep as much as I can, I'm still as limp as a weed."

          "Didn't they take the poison out of you yet?" Harry asked.

          "They tried the best they could, but it had already went through my system.  I've been given all the antidotes and elixirs they have."

          Harry handed her the card with a reassuring smile on his face, "Here's a card from all of us Gryffindor sixth years."

          Sprout took it with a smile, "Why thank you, Harry!"  She looked at the front, opened it, and laughed when she read the words.  "That was sweet!  Tell everyone thanks."

          "You're welcome."  He smiled. "Um, Professor?  Is it true that Madam Pomfrey's out of bezoars?"

          Professor Sprout frowned, crinkling the little lines around her mouth.  "It's true.  They just. . . vanished."

          "Like someone is playing a mean joke?"

          "Seems like it." She sighed.

          Peeves?  Harry thought almost immediately, but then wondered why a poltergeist would want to poison Sprout.  "Do you know where one could find… um, a goat?  One that would have a bezoar inside?"

          Professor Sprout looked shocked for a moment, but then shook her head. "No.  All the goats were cleaned out the last time they restocked.  It's like the person who took all of the bezoars knew exactly when to steal them all."

          "And give you that dangerous plant." Harry said.

          "Yes.  I hope whoever did this gets taught a lesson." She frowned painfully.

          "Me too, Professor.  But is the so-called dangerous plant still at your greenhouse?"

          "I think so.  No one told me that it was moved, or that anyone would even try going near it… oh!  Harry, no!" She cried suddenly, "Don't even think it!  I forbid you to find it!  I don't want you in this state as well!  It's not a fun thing, let me tell you.  And you'd miss out on your Quidditch matches and everything.  Please, promise me that you won't go near that thing!"

          Harry sighed, knowing that she was right.  "Ok.  I won't."

          "Thank you.  Well, I suppose I better sleep now.  I feel even more drained than before."

          Harry frowned, having a sinking feeling that he was to blame for her weariness.  "Ok.  I hope that they find a cure for you."

          "I hope so too." She smiled optimistically.  "See you later, Harry.  And thanks for the nice card!"

          Harry left, feeling good that he got to see that she was doing better, but depressed that he made her worry and more sleepy.

          But on the way to his room, something just hit Harry.  He suddenly remembered something that Draco had told him that day that he placed the Protection Charm on him.

          ~_"I have put a Protection charm on you, which I tweaked myself, so that only me, your weasel friend, and Granger may touch you…_

_"Everyone and everything else that breathes—will—get—shocked…_

_          "Everyone and 'everything'..."~_

"Everything gets shocked." Harry felt a small smile creep over his face.

          He turned and ran toward the greenhouse.

~TBC~

Well, things that are more 'creature-like' will get shocked. ^_^  Yeah, I know, the rose didn't fry.  But why would I want Harry's first rose to be destroyed?  Let's just say that things that act like a living thing get shocked.


	5. A deadly plant and a strange little man

Title:  Protégé part 5 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.  And there is some strong language in here!

**Old Notes** that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).  So hopefully I will do a pretty decent story telling job for this universe.

**Contents:**  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, etc etc…

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.__

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          Making his way back to the dungeons, Draco was muttering about the way Trelawny was acting with him.  He shook his silvery-blond head and sighed.  "I can't believe that witch, telling _me_ of all people to be careful of the 'dark times', as she put it.  Damn it, I'm a Slytherin! I don't need to worry about that!"

          Draco stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked through a window at a sudden wandering figure outside.  He peered closer, pressing his hands against the glass, taking note that the person was headed for Professor Sprout's conservatories.  He recognized the person almost instantly.

          "Potter?  What the hell is he up to?"

          He had a choice to make.  Either go down there and see what he was doing, or forget about it and continue going to his room downstairs.  After a few strange arguments inside of his head, he decided to find the quickest way out of the castle and down to the greenhouse.

~*~

          Harry raced down the stairs as fast as he could trying not to look too suspicious.  He just made it to the right greenhouse when he heard a small whoosh of air.  He looked up and sure enough, it was Malfoy on his broomstick.  Harry sighed in aggravation, taking his hand off of the door, and put his hands on his hips as he watched the Slytherin make a landing.

          "Now what do you want, Malfoy?"

          Draco put a hand on his chest like he was horrified by the way Harry addressed him.  "I'm hurt, Harry.  I really am."

          "Good.  Now fly away and leave me alone."

          "And not be around to watch you get into trouble?  Yeah, right!"  Harry scoffed at his antics and crossed his arms over his chest.  "What are you doing, by the way?"

          "None of your business, Malfoy.  Please go."

          "Oh, it's 'please' now, is it?  Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not leaving."

          Harry sighed, "If I throw a stick, will you go away?"

          "Ooo. . . nice one, Potter.  Try not to let your mind wander, it's much too small to be outside by itself."

          Harry glared.  "Well, I can only please one person per day.  Today isn't your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either."

          Draco laughed.  These sharp little remarks were clearly entertaining. "Did you ever stop to think and forget to start again?"

          "I see that you wanna be a kid when you grow up." Harry sneered.  "Now be off before someone drops a house on you!"

          "Hilarious, Potter.  Simply hilarious.  But I'm not going anywhere."  Draco set his broom down and walked toward the greenhouse door.  "I'm coming in with you. Whatever you're doing must be supervised."

          "In your dreams, Malfoy."

          "No, in my nightmares." Draco grinned, pushing past Harry to enter the hothouse.  "Of course, you do have a point.  Doing any kind of work, especially next to you, sounds disastrous."

          "It wouldn't kill you to work once in a while, Malfoy."

          "How do you know?  Hard work must have killed *someone*."

          Harry sighed in irritation as he followed Draco into the greenhouse, hoping that this didn't become a *real* nightmare for him.  "Just stay out of my way."

          "As long as you do the same." Draco growled.  They both walked in between rows of different types of plants and flowers.  "Just what are you planning on doing anyways?  As if I really care."

          "Oh? It seems like you do, otherwise why would you be here?"

          "To watch you get into trouble, like I said.  But curiosity has gotten the better of me.  I really must know."

          "You like prying into my business or something?  Do you get a strange perverse pleasure from doing so?"

          "Something like that." Draco smiled as he shrugged his shoulders.  He looked over at an orange colored rose that looked normal to the naked eye.  He thought about it, but then decided not to touch it just in case.  "So, what are we looking for?" Malfoy said, crossing his arms.

          "We?  There is no WE here, Malfoy.  You're just a painful thorn in my side right now.  And speaking of which, what was the deal with not cutting the thorns off of that rose you gave me?"

          "Oh, well, I think that a rose just isn't one unless it has its thorns.  That's what makes it so beautiful, you know."

          Harry rolled his eyes.  "Right."

          After a few more moments of silence, Draco finally asked, "Did you like it?"

          "Like what?" Harry grumbled, looking at each plant row by row.

          "The rose, what else?"

          "Oh, yeah, the rose."  Harry continued to look down the rows of flowers and shrubbery before turning his head to look at Draco, arcing one eyebrow.  "It was… very courteous of you.  Was it supposed to be an apology for putting this Protection charm on me?"

          "Not exactly.  I was just, uh, just trying to get you to trust me more.  Basically."

          "Huh.  Well," Harry went back to looking at the rows of exotic plants, "You don't need to worry about me anymore.  Thanks anyways."

          "Uh, yeah, I guess I should take that charm off of you, huh?"

          Before Harry started to scan the last row of flowers, he looked up at Draco with one raised eyebrow and said, "Don't.  Not yet."

          "What??  But I thought you were mad that I…"

          "I need this… power, so to speak.  I'm looking for that strange plant that poisoned Professor Sprout and I want to use my 'electric' abilities to shock it."

          Draco shrugged with a smug look on his face, "Why don't you just use the Petrifying spell on it?"

          "Not sure if it would work.  Plus, I think it would be best if it were 'unconscious' so to speak.  That way, whoever tests it to see what it is and what the right cure for Pomfrey is, they can do an analysis spell on it.  They could also do other tests to it and watch for a reaction from it…"

          "All right!  All right!  I get it!  God, I didn't ask for an entire lesson, Potter."

          "Thought you could use one." Harry snapped.  Just before Draco could comment on that, Harry gasped in surprise as he spotted what was likely the culprit.  It was on the very last row in the far corner.  He made sure that he was within a safe enough distance as he studied it.  On the outside, it didn't look very dangerous, but he knew that those rolled up leaves held more than just a cocooned bug. "There it is."

          "What? That?" Draco guffawed, "It doesn't look *that* dangerous!"  He walked closer towards it.

          "Draco, wait!"  Harry grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe just as the strange plant shook in its black-soiled pot and then bared it's fangs; one was trying to strike out at its victim.  "You idiot!" Harry hissed, "You could have been poisoned!"

          "Why, I didn't know you cared, Potter." Draco batted his eyes.

          "Same here."  Harry held up a hand, reminding the Slytherin of what he had done to him, and then he took a step forward.

          "Um, Potter. . ."

          "What?"

          "Are you sure that you won't get poisoned when you shock it?  It could still bite you, couldn't it?"

          "It'll get the shock of it's life before it could sink it's tiny teeth in me.  Stand back.  I think the sparks are going to fly."

          Unfortunately, the pot that it was in, acted like an insulator.  So, in order for Harry to shock it, he would have to touch one of the leaves or stems.  But the leaves contained the deadly poisonous fangs, so Harry would have to use his quick Seeker reflexes, as it would be a touch and go.

          When Harry moved a finger toward it, the plant brandished its teeth and lunged.  Harry moved his hand away before any of the biting leaves could sink their little fangs into him.  Once he moved, they settled down again, wrapping their teeth back into leaves.

          "Any more bright ideas, Gryffindork?"

          "Shut up, I'm thinking."  It was about a minute, Draco realized, before Harry's head snapped up and a small smile formed on his face.  "I got it!  Malfoy, I need your help."

          "Oh really?  So, you DO need me here after all?  What a surprise this is!"

          "Can you knock it off for a minute and be serious?  I need you to distract it so I can touch it."

          "What??  Distract it?  Are you off your rocker, Potter??  I'll get bit, and poisoned, and it would be your fault cause 'you needed my help'!"

          Harry groaned, wishing Ron was the one with him instead of this snake.  "Look, I just need you to get its teeth pointed in a different direction while I sneak behind it and touch it.  You can do that, can't you?"

          "I don't know.  What do I get for helping you?"

          "Half of the credit for it, of course.  Your House might be given points for your courageous behavior."

          Draco snickered, "Courageous behavior!  Ha!  That's a good one!"

          "That's why you're not in Gryffindor." Harry grinned.

          "Thank Merlin for that!"

          "So will you help me or not?"

          "I do want something in return, if you would be ever so kind." Draco smiled.

          Harry sighed, "All right, fine.  It better not be something stupid or… disgraceful."

          "Don't worry about that, Potter.  Nothing stupid."

          "Good.  What is it then?"

          Draco gave Harry a wicked grin before stating, "Sleep with me."

          Harry's eyes widened to large proportions.  "Excuse me???"

          "You heard me.  Take it or leave it."  Draco harrumphed, folding his arms.

          "S-s-sleep with you?  Malfoy, we don't even like each other!  We can't stand each other!!  We're not even friends!  Why would I want to… do _that??_"

          Draco sniffed exaltedly, "No, we're not friends.  I don't take this kind of shit from friends." He paused dramatically before looking at Harry with lidded eyes.  "Only from lovers."  And then he winked.

          Harry made a noise between a groan and a snort.  "I should have guessed."

          "You want my help or not?"  Draco asked, tapping his foot on the floor with impatience.

          "You're really pushing it, you know that?" Harry sighed.

          Draco continued to stare, tapping his foot.  "I can wait all day.  But can you?"  About a minute pasted, and then finally Draco said, "Ok, how about a kiss instead?"  Harry gave him a 'you've got to be joking' look.  "Um, a hickey?  Maybe a hug?  Er… cuddling?  Ok, you've forced me to go as low as I'm going to allow.  How about a date?"

          "A date, huh?"

          "Yeah.  So how about it?  Otherwise I'm going to go to Sprout and tell her that you're in her greenhouse with that dangerous plant."  Draco grinned.

          "What? No, you wouldn't!" Harry frowned.  The last thing he needed was for Sprout to know that he broke his promise.

"Oh, yes… I would." Draco grinned wickedly.

Harry couldn't stand the bastard, but there was something odd going on with him… especially since Draco placed a Protection Spell on him.  "Fine!" He finally gave in. "Have it your way, you spoiled, selfish, uncaring, egotistic, little dink!"

          "Such a sweet talker."  Draco smiled mockingly as he strolled around to the other side of the plant.  "I hope you keep that lovely vocabulary for our future pillow talk."

          Harry groaned. "Are we done with the pleasantries now?  Ok, use your reflexes to the max to distract it."

          "What do you want me to do, dangle a hand or something over it to tease it like it's a school of piranhas?"

          "Something like that.  Just do what you can.  I need to concentrate on my timing."

          Draco rolled up his robe's sleeve and moved a hand slowly toward the weird plant.  The thing's leaves began to quake again, and then, in unison, the leaves uncurled and stood straight up, snapping hungrily at Draco's bared skin.

          All at once, when Draco got the thing's attention, Harry swiftly moved his hands to the base of the plant and wrapped them around it.  Instantly there was blue lightning coming out of his hands as it surrounded the plant.  Harry had a feeling that if there was any electrical things around, they would all be short-circuited from the sparks that flew.

          Harry had overlooked one fact with his idea to stun the deadly plant.  The electricity was more intense than Harry had anticipated (seeing that he put both hands around it), and a small spark ignited the entire plant.  The weird plant let out a slight shriek as it began to burn to a crisp.  Harry leapt back in horror as the fire engulfed the plant.  Strangely, the room filled with an ungodly odor of burning flesh.  He desperately took out his wand and pointed it at the burning weed.

          "Imberbris!" [1]  Harry enchanted, and a small cloud appeared above the burning plant and began to rain, putting it out almost immediately.

          The once green plant was mostly gray, and sopping wet.  The only bit of green that was left on it was the very bottom where Harry's hands hadn't touched.  The electricity seemed to have gone only where his hands were, but the spark from it caught one of the leaves on fire.

          Draco smirked.  "I don't think that they'd appreciate the fact that you have burnt the 'patient' they were gonna analyze."

          "Oh shut up."

          Draco stretched, "Ah!  That felt good.  Well, I guess my work here is done.  I will contact you later when I would like my reward.  Later, Potty."  He waved, and then walked out of the greenhouse.

          Harry sighed forlornly as he looked at the charred plant.  Hopefully it could still be tested to see what species it was and what kind of properties it held.  If not, they were out of luck.

          And then there was the fact that he had a date with the Slytherin.

          _Shit!_

~*~

          "There you are!"  Draco heard Pansy say, running in the hallway at him. "I've been looking all over for you!  Where were you?"

          "I don't see why I have to tell anyone anything.  It's my business!" He walked past her, hoping that she got the message.

          Pansy trotted along beside him, "I heard something rather interesting from Crabbe and Goyle."

          "Oh really?  When have they ever said anything interesting?"

          "I thought the same thing when they told me that they had something interesting to tell me.  Do you want to know what it is?"

          "I could care less." Draco sighed.

          "Oh, I suppose it's because you were supposed to keep it a secret, but that's ok.  I won't say anything."

          Draco stopped abruptly, "Keep what a secret?"

          "You know," she nudged him.  "That thing you got me.  But don't worry about the secret being ruined.  I still appreciate the effort you put to keeping it from me."

          Draco's eyes suddenly became as wide as saucers when he finally realized what she was talking about.  'Oh shit!  Those idiots went and told her about the rose!  I'll teach them to keep their noses to themselves!'  He dashed off toward the Slytherin dungeons.

          "Hey!  Wait for me!" Pansy cried, running after him.

~*~

          After Harry dropped the mostly-charred plant at Dumbledore's office, he immediately took off for Potions.  He had two minutes to get there on time, but he knew that there was no way he'd be able to make it.

          He got there a minute late, huffing the whole time to his seat next to Ron.

          "It's about time you decided to show up, Mr. Potter." Professor Snape said dryly.  "Please explain why you were late to my class so that I know how many points to take off."

          Harry fumbled, totally shocked by Snape wanting to know the reason for his tardiness.  He usually didn't care and just took away points from Gryffindor for no reason.  "S-sir, I had some urgent business…"

          "Was it urgent enough to justify being late to my class?"

          Ron looked like he wanted to say something, but decided it was best to keep his mouth shut.  Harry sighed, averting his eyes and staring down at his Potions notebook.  Finally, after a long pause, Harry finally nodded.  He knew that Snape wouldn't leave him alone until he responded to his question.

          "I see." Snape drawled and then wandered back to his desk.  "Ten points from Gryffindor for tardiness and for thinking you had something more important to do than get to class on time.  Now, although we won't have Double Potions until next week, you still need to take notes for future use.  If you don't take these down, chances are you won't succeed."  He was staring at Harry the whole time.

          Harry opened his notebook quietly and lifted his new quill to dip into his inkbottle.  He suddenly heard soft whispers around him and he could have sworn he heard the name 'Malfoy' come out of someone's mouth.  Yes, he did make a new quill from Draco's owl's feather.  So what?  What was the big deal?  He needed one anyways, and making one was better than having to always borrow Ron's or Hermione's, and it was faster than having to go to Hogsmeade to buy one.

          "Mr. Potter," he heard Snape suddenly say.  Harry looked up at the teacher immediately to see the stunned expression on his face.  "Is that feather from Mr. Malfoy's owl?"

          Draco looked over in shock, finally noticing the feather.  Everyone did know about the feather that Harry had picked up that morning and kept, but they had no idea that he took it to use it for a quill.

          "How…" Harry gulped.  He wanted to ask how Snape knew, but he figured that Snape, as well as everyone else, might have recognized the pattern on the feather because Draco's owl was the only one with this patern of browns and blacks.

          "Answer the question, Potter.  Is that, or isn't that, a feather from Malfoy's owl?"

          Harry nodded, "Yes it is, sir."

          "So you couldn't afford to buy a new one?  You just _had_ to use Malfoy's?"

          "That's not it sir."

          "Then why, Mr. Potter?"  Snape glared.  "Why did you decide to make a quill from your rival's owl?  Why?"

          "It was convenient, sir." Harry said abruptly.

          "Well, isn't that sweet.  A Gryffindor cherishing a Slytherin's owl feather."  All of the Slytherins sniggered at this.  Snape smirked, and then he sat back down at his desk.  "Five more points from Gryffindor for Potter's lack of House spirit."

          Harry gaped, wanting to say something, but he shut his mouth quickly.  He instantly started to write the rest of the notes down, not wishing to waste anymore time arguing over something stupid as why he was using Draco's owl's feather for a quill.  Snape just seemed to enjoy making up reasons to take points away from Gryffindor this week.  Harry didn't seem to think that having a quill made from Draco's owl was such a big deal.  Harry idly wondered if maybe Snape was having a bad week with his other boss.

          Draco shook his head, clearly showing everyone there that he was annoyed by Potter's wish to use his owl's feather.  Deep down he was very flattered, but he didn't want to either defend or attack Harry.  So instead, Draco settled for trying to confuse Harry by giving him different looks every time he caught the Gryffindor's eye.

~*~

          The last class of the day for Harry was Transfigurations with McGonagall.  He was more than glad to be there now, not having to deal with Snape or Malfoy.  Through the main part of the time during Potions, he had noticed that Draco would be looking over his way.  When their eyes met, either Draco would smile, snicker, or wink.  Harry didn't know which was worse to see.

          "Ok, class, time to take some notes on our new lesson.  This time we will be turning an ordinary piece of parchment into a bat.  As easy as it may sound, it is not.  The closest anyone has gotten it the first time around has made the parchment into a pale tan colored bat.  We need to look at some steps to make sure that the key color for the bat is done properly."

Professor McGonagall began to instruct on those key factors when Harry suddenly felt something touch his leg.  He looked down but didn't see anything right away.  He looked to the other side of his leg and saw a very tiny little man (or was it a goblin?) dressed in green and light brown.  The small creature grinned before it pulled down one of its eyelids and stuck out his tongue.

          Harry instantly raised his hand.

          "Yes, Mr. Potter?  Do you have a question?"

          "Um, Professor, there's a… there's some kind of little man under the table…"

          "A what?"  Professor McGonagall looked like she had just been insulted.  The whole class started to chuckle.  Even Ron was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

          "It's a little man… well, look!"  Harry pointed as he looked down at his feet.  But the weird man was no longer there.  "Huh?  Where'd it go?"

          "Is there a reason why you believe that there's a little man at your feet, Mr. Potter?"

          The soft snickering turned into laughter.  

          "But, Professor, I swear I saw him!  He had a small pointed hat and his outfit was, um, green and brown. . ."

          "That's quite enough now, Mr. Potter.  I will not tolerate any more interruptions in my class."

          Harry sighed in defeat.  "Yes, professor."

          As Professor McGonagall continued with her speech, Harry couldn't help but look back down at the floor again.  There was no little man.  He ran the soft tip of his new quill across his cheek.  Was he seeing things?

~TBC~

[1] A shower or storm of rain; pelting rain


	6. The truth be told, and outdoor fun

I don't think I need to remind you all that this fic is a repost?  I've been editing it and posting it on here again – so, yes, the whole thing is already written.  But I need time in between editing/redoing this fic and the others I'm working on.  So, please be a bit patient with me. 

Thank you all so much for replying to my story.  It means a lot to me. :D

Title:  Protégé part 6 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.  And there is some strong language in here!

Note that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).

**Contents:**  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, adventure (let's hope), and slight adult content.

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Truth Be Told and Outdoor Fun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          The fresh air outside was heavenly.  They had a day off, and the teachers thought it was a good idea to have lunch outside this time.  The four long tables with food appeared and there was the hustle and bustle of four houses as they sat in there their usual spots.  Harry was feeling rather happy to be outside for a change.  Dumbledore had informed them that the decorations for Halloween would be up by the time they all got done eating and went back inside.

          The teachers were seated far enough away from the rest of the class that anything spoken couldn't be heard, but they could still see if anything amiss started.  They were all digging into their food and happily chatting when someone finally spoke up.

          "Malfoy hasn't taken the charm off of Harry yet, has he?"

          Most of the Gryffindor table and the Ravenclaw table went silent.  Some of the Hufflepuffs were all wondering why the other two tables had suddenly gone quieter, and the Slytherins were mainly smirking or snickering.

          Harry was a bit surprised when Neville spoke up.  He looked across the table to see that Draco was busying himself with eating and didn't seem to care why his table was smirking and laughing at the Gryffindors.

          "Is it true, Harry?"  Lavender asked, blinking.

          Harry slowly nodded and then he noticed that everyone went rather stiff.

          "Don't worry," Harry finally said. "I'm not gonna go around touching you guys or anything."

          "We know that, Harry."  Dean said. "Why don't you go complain to Professor Dumbledore about this?"

          "I was just thinking about talking to him.  I also want to find out how Professor Sprout is doing."

          "I heard that she's finally starting to feel her legs."  Seamus said.  Some of the others around him nodded.

          "That's what I heard too."  said Colin.

          Harry sighed in relief, glad to know that he was probably of some help after all.  He was hoping so anyways, after all that he had to go through to get the strange plant analyzed.

          "So, Harry, do you think that Malfoy would be mad if you told Dumbledore he wouldn't take the charm off of you?"  Neville asked, fidgeting very nervously.

          Harry shrugged, not really sure.  "I don't know.  Maybe."

          "Who cares?"  Ron said after he swallowed a bite of his pasta.  "It's his own stupid fault for putting the Protection spell on you in the first place."

          Many nodded.

          "I suppose. . ." Harry sighed.

          Just then, a Slytherin, by the name of Montague, turned around from his table and glared over at where all the redheads were seated.  Harry and Hermione were amongst the middle of all the Weasleys.

          Montague branded a sneer at the table, getting Ron's attention.  Fred and George, who were there because they had some business with Dumbledore, were sitting in front of Ron and Harry, backs turned to the Slytherin table.  They both noticed their little brother's eyes glaring at something behind them.  They both turned around and saw that the Slytherin was sneering and holding something long and white in between his fingers.  It was recognized instantly.

          "Hey, Weasleys, mind if I smoke?" Montague said nastily.

          Fred smirked at him and said, "I don't know, you mind if I fart?"

          Everyone within earshot split into laughter. The Slytherin's face went red.

          "It's one of my habits."  Fred said not missing a beat.  More laughter roared.  "You know they have a special section for me on the Hogwarts Express now …"

          The Slytherin turned back to his own table, red with anger.  Everyone that was laughing was holding their sides, faces beat red.

          "It's hard to quit—uh,"  Fred smiled.  "You know after sex I really have to urge to light one up." [1]

          Many Gryffindors were now lying on the ground, holding their guts.  The Slytherin table was eerily quiet with either anger, or fear of bursting out laughing themselves.  Fred smirked at some of them, knowing this.  When you got it, you got it.

          Harry had to take off his glasses to wipe the tears from his eyes.  He had missed having the twins around.  He was going to be sad when they left tomorrow, but he knew that they would be back to gladly whisk him away for a weekend some day.  They had practically adopted him as another brother the moment they found out that he was best friends with Ron.

When he placed his glasses back on his face, he noticed with slight fogged up vision that Draco was shaking with what looked like silent laughter.  If Malfoy burst now, Harry knew that the blonde's Housemates wouldn't like it too much, but he knew that Draco would be able to defend himself.

          "That, my brother, was brilliant!" George finally said, catching his breath.

          Fred grinned.  "Muggle humor.  You _gotta_ love it."

          Unfortunately, the whole commotion brought Snape over to investigate.  Many Gryffindors immediately settled down and picked themselves off of the ground.  The few that were left snickering were less frightened of the teacher.

          "What is going on here?"  Snape demanded.

          Harry was bold enough to explain without busting into laughter again.  "Fred told a joke, that's all."

          Snape looked over and eyed the Weasley twin doubtfully.  Unfortunately, he was glaring at the wrong one.

          "I'm George.  He's Fred."  The twin pointed at his brother.

          "Oh, thanks for trying to save me, brother."  Fred sighed.

          Snape, not wanting to look like a fool, bounced his eyes between the two as if he didn't believe what George said.  "Try not to overexert yourselves, gentlemen.  We wouldn't want anyone *dying* of laughter, now would we?"

          "Oh, come on, Professor, it's our day off!  Can't we have some fun?"

          Snape looked over and glared at Colin who was smiling sheepishly.  "Indeed it is.  Just try not to look for trouble with the _other_ Houses, if you can help it."  He shifted his eyes back over to the twins and then left to go join the other teachers again.

          "He really needs to lighten up."  Ron said, getting a nod from Harry.

~*~

          The Gryffindors and the Slytherins had a match the next day.  Tonight Harry decided to do some flying by himself so he wouldn't chance getting anyone shocked.

          Harry mounted his broom and took off into the dimming sky, enjoying the feel of the cool wind whipping through his hair.  He halted in midair above the Quidditch pitch and let himself relax while he scanned the area.  The field was looking perfect as always, and it was unusually peaceful.  When practicing, he would normally be with other players, but this time he couldn't afford it.  It made him wonder if Draco would ever take the Protection charm off of him.  Apparently, whatever nightmares Draco had been having must really be horrifying for him to have placed the spell in the first place.

          Wishing to feel the air move around him once more, Harry began to fly around the oval-shaped field.  He went faster and faster while he flew, as if the whooshing wind would lift the spell from his body.

          When he slowed down, his eyes caught a glimpse of a figure moving onto the pitch.  He whirled around to get a closer look and saw that it was none other than that damn Slytherin.

          Like a force being pulled in the opposite direction, Harry did an about face and started to fly toward the other side of the Quidditch field.

          "Potter!"  Harry heard his last name bellowed, but he didn't look back.  He kept a steady pace forward, relishing in the feel of the breeze blowing through his messy hair and pushing it back from his face.

          "Hey!  Are you deaf or something?"  Draco pulled up along side him.  Harry didn't even want to look at him right now.  He knew that if he did he'd get lost in those stormy eyes.

          "Go away."  Harry threw back, even though it came out with less bite than he had intended.  He wanted to fly faster, to get away from Draco, but his whole body was betraying him.

          "Now that's no way to talk to your date, is it?"

          "I want to be alone, Malfoy.  Can't you tell?"

          Draco made a tisk noise and then moved his broom closer to Harry's.  "Somebody needs a hug."

          "And somebody needs to do what he's told and take a certain spell off of a certain person."  Harry sneered.

          "And who might that be?" Draco gave him a mocking smile.

          Harry finally turned his head to shoot a nasty glare at the Slytherin.  Those silvery-gray met forest green.  "Why are you doing this to me, Malfoy?"

          "Well it's about time you asked me that question."

          Harry raised an eyebrow. "But I *did* ask you that question before!"

          "Oh?  You did?"

          Harry groaned.

          "Ok, look," Draco stated, "I've told that nutcase Professor Trelawny my nightmare so I guess I could tell you.  But, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not afraid for your safety.  I am doing this to: A - stop the nightmares, and B - not let anyone or anything else get the chance to defeat you before I can.  Do you understand?"

          Harry nodded.  He knew it wasn't the full truth, but he could wait.  He needed to know the reason behind Draco's strange behavior, and he hoped that Draco would tell him the truth on his own.

^^^

          When Draco finished telling Harry his nightmare, including the embarrassing part where he ran to Harry's side, a very awkward silence fell upon them.

          Finally, Harry broke the unusual peace, "So, why would I go down into the dungeons in the first place?"

          Draco shrugged his shoulders, "Beats me, Potter.  For all I know, you're down there saving someone's life."

          'Saving someone's life …' Harry pondered.  There was a slight pause before Harry said, "Do you know what room we were in?"

          Draco looked like he was thinking about it.  "Not sure.  All I know is that I didn't recognize it and I know most of the rooms in the dungeons."

          "Maybe there's a secret passage that leads to that room."  Harry said to himself aloud.

          "Potter, if you think that I'm going to let you go scurrying about through the Slytherin halls, you've got another thing coming!"

          "Why?  Are you afraid that I'd meet up with this so-called monster and get hurt?"

          Draco's cheeks tinted a bright pink.  "Of course not!  I just don't need some Gryffindor git wandering through our halls!"

          "Admit it, Draco … you're worried that I'll get killed…."

          "I will admit to no such thing, thank you very much!"

          Harry stopped his Firebolt and Draco followed suit.  "I thought you said that you were worried."

          "What?"  Draco sneered.

          "Remember in the hallway when we argued about getting the charm off of me, you said something like: 'is that what I get for worrying about you?'  Remember?"

          "Did I say that?"

          "Yes, you did."

          Draco chuckled.  "I would have remembered something like that, Potter."

          "You don't?  That was about a week or so ago."

          "Was it?"

          "Yes!"

          "Well, you don't have to snap at me!  Back, Simba!  Back!"  Draco pretended that he had a chair in one hand and a whip in the other.

          Harry shook his head. "Oy vey, you're impossible."  He slowly landed near the boys' locker room, and Draco followed.  Harry pretended not to notice until he heard Draco say—

          "So then. . . about our date. . ."

          Harry groaned.

~*~

          Pansy was storming from the Slytherin common room, not caring who saw her or who got in her way.  If anyone did see her now, they should know better to avoid her.  She had just found out about the first rose that Draco had sent to Harry, and she didn't appreciate being lied to.

          She had been on her way to her last class when she heard a group of fifth years yakking.  Curious, she slipped into the shadows against a wall and listened in.

          "Yeah, did you see Harry Potter's face?  He looked so adorably confused when he got that white rose." She sounded like she was smiling.

          Pansy heard the other girl sigh, "Yes, I did see.  Who knew that Draco Malfoy was such a romantic?  If it wasn't Parvati that told me, I wouldn't have believed it."

          "That Parvati is such a gossip hog.  I'm surprised that everything she tells _is_ the truth and not just some silly rumor.  How does she do it?"

          "I don't know.  Maybe she's really good at Divination."

          That was when Pansy ran from the corridor in tears toward the Slytherin's dorm.  And after she had finally turned her anguish into rage, she stormed from the Slytherin common room toward the Great Hall where she knew that Crabbe and Goyle were at right now.  She also hoped that Draco was there too so she could give him a piece of her mind, and maybe even a slap across the face.

          When she reached the Great Hall, however, she didn't see a blond head anywhere.  She only saw the two ninnies sitting there with, surprisingly, a pair of books in front of them.  Well, she guessed that since Draco didn't seem to want there company as much anymore, it only seemed plausible that they would spend time studying.  The hell with what Draco was doing right now, huh boys?

          "Hey, prats, where's Draco?" she asked, keeping her temper in check.

          "Who knows?" Goyle answered her, eyes still on his homework.

          "Well, then, does anyone know?"  she grounded out.

          "Um. . . not sure," was Crabbe's answer.

          "Then where did you last see him?"

          "Uh, last time?  Umm. . . it was after we ate outside, I think."

          Crabbe nodded his agreement.

          "Fine.  I'll go look for him myself then.  Some help you two were!" she huffed, and then stomped out of the Great Hall.

          "So who spit in her pumpkin juice?"  Goyle asked.

          They both looked at each other and then laughed.

~*~

          Draco stood there and watched as Harry stripped his sweaty Quidditch uniform off.  Draco never really understood why Harry had to wear it when he was only practicing, but he figured that maybe it made him feel as if he were really playing and it gave him more of a high, or something.  Whenever he was out on the playing field, decked out in his Slytherin attire, he felt more alive than when he wore his school uniform and robe.

          Harry pulled his shirt up over his head, exposing his bare chest.  Draco had to swallow a lump that was forming in his throat.  He had an idea that Harry was more built now than back in his second year, but he had no idea that he actually had muscular pecs.

          The Gryffindor felt eyes on him and he turned his head.  He readjusted his glasses that had gone crooked on his nose as he looked at the blond boy.  Yes, Draco _was_ checking him out.  He turned away and shivered.

          "Do you have to keep staring like that?"  Harry stuffed his dirty shirt into his locker.  He put his thumbs around the button of his trousers and looked back to see that Draco's eyes had fixed themselves on that spot.

          "I have no control over where my eyes are going right now."  Draco snickered.

          Harry rolled his eyes.  He was about to say something but he knew that it would just go in one ear and out the other.  The more he thought about Draco looking at him in *that* way, the more it made Harry feel like he had more control over the situation.  Just what would Draco do if he started to take the rest of his clothes off real slow?  He tried to not grin from the thought, imagining the blonde's jaw dropping to the floor.

          So then, very slowly, Harry popped his button open.  Watching Draco out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the Slytherin was following his every move. 'Aha, I got you.'  Harry smiled to himself as he slowly undid his zipper.  He saw Draco lick his lips, and then he wiped his brow when Harry put his thumbs into the waist of his pants and began to pull them down carefully.

          Harry heard him growl.

          He looked over and saw that Draco was glaring at him.

          "That's it, Potter." his voice cracked, "I _will_ have my revenge."

          "What are you talking about, Malfoy?"  Harry asked, sounding innocent.

          Draco glared harder. "Oh, I think you know _damn_ well what I'm talking about!" He moved closer and grabbed the back of Harry's neck.

          Harry's eyes widened but then narrowed quickly, trying to show resistance.  He watched as Draco's eyes flashed with growing anger and lust as Draco stared into his eyes.  He was teasing Malfoy badly, and he knew it.

          "Don't deny it, Harry."  Draco whispered.  He ran his thumb lightly over the shell of Harry's ear, producing a small shiver from the Gryffindor.  He placed a hand onto Harry's waist, pulling him slightly closer to his own body.  He felt a jolt of something flow through him, awakening his manhood even more.

          "Losing control, Malfoy?" Harry grinned.

          Draco sneered.  The idiot was grinning at him!  He was fucking _teasing_ him!  "I'll show you just whose in control here, Potter." He slowly moved his lips toward those panting, wanton ones.

          Sometime yesterday night Harry had finally admitted to himself that he felt some attraction to Malfoy, and he knew that the best kind of revenge would be seduction.  And acting like he was innocent through the whole thing was better.  Although the whole charade was teasing himself as well, he knew that it would be worth it in the end.

          But one little kiss shouldn't hurt his plan of revenge, right?  It should only add a bit more fuel to the fire, and that should make the teasing more sweet and torturous.  Harry moaned aloud, letting Draco know just how his touch was exciting him, and how much he was craving this. Very slowly, Harry began to close his eyes, expecting to feel the softness of Malfoy's lips on his.

          "Harry?  Harry, are you in here?"

          "Son of a bi-!"  Draco snarled.

          Harry just moved away from Draco's warm body when Ron popped his head around the corner.  "I've been looking all over for you."  Ron stopped short when he saw that Draco was standing there next to his friend.  "What the hell is HE doing here?"

          "Annoying me." Harry said instantly, trying to hide and ignore his arousal.

          Draco was pissed, to say the least.  He stormed out, bumping into Weasley on the way.  "It's suddenly too crowded in here."  Draco said, sneering.

          Ron glared after Malfoy, and then when the Slytherin left he looked over at Harry.  "So, did you get any practice time at all, or did Malfoy bother you?"

          "I got enough." Harry shrugged. "It's not like I need to practice every day."

          Ron smiled, "You're right!  Because no one is better than you.  Oh, by the way. . . . There's a rumor going around now that you're Malfoy's boyfriend.  Isn't that a hoot?  So to speak."  Ron chuckled.

          "Yeah.  That is funny."  Harry pretended to chuckle.

          As Harry continued to will his erection away, heading for the showers, a little man on top of the lockers in a green and brown outfit was watching everything.

~TBC~

[1] Comedy act by the great comedian Steve Martin


	7. Love is in the air

For the last time, people- the little man is peach skinned, but wears green and brown clothes! -_-;  And he's NOT a leprechaun. (sorry, I've got reviews like that before, don't mean to sound rude or anything)  You're just gotta have to sit tight until its identity is revealed!  Mwahahahaa! Title:  Protégé part 7 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.  And there is some strong language in here!

Note that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).  

Harry/Draco snogging in here!!  And some Ron/Hermione kissage as well.  There is also a rather intense Quidditch match in this chapter.  Umm... I think that 's it.

**Contents:**  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, adventure (let's hope), and some possible lime, depending on my muse. 

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (others?)

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.  __

Other notes for this chapter:

Quidditch players for Gryffindor: Keeper-Ginny, Chasers-Lavender, Seamus, Dean; Beaters-Ron & Neville, Seeker & Captain-Harry

Slytherin players: Keeper -Goyle, Chasers - Pansy, Blaise & ? –Beaters - Millicent & Crabbe, Seeker & captain-Draco

Make note that this was written way before book 5 came out.  I don't feel like changing it, because certain things happen in here that is hard to undo and such.  So, let's just say that Ron decided to play as the Chaser now, and Ginny took Ron's place. ^_^

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Love Is In The Air

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          It was the day of the game.  The bleachers were filled to the max for this event.  Gryffindor versus Slytherin had always been the most popular and entertaining of matches.  Many believed that Harry Potter had started the whole intense competition, but others had thought that the two Houses were always out for each other's blood.  Fred and George were there in the stands as well, cheering their team on.

          The players took their positions and waited for Madame Hooch to arrive on the field.  The Quidditch Chasers all glared at one another as Hooch finally walked up to the giant chest containing the balls.

          "Remember to keep it clean," Hooch announced, although she knew it was pointless to say, and then kicked open the chest.  The Snitch and the two Bludgers immediately took flight.  Harry watched as the golden winged ball seemed to almost dance in the air, as if taunting the two Seekers.  He noticed that Malfoy also had his eye on it and was watching intensely. Harry knew, despite the way that Draco acted so protective and possessive last night, that he wanted to win this match no matter what.  That gave Harry a sinking feeling in his gut.

          Madame Hooch threw the Quaffle into the air and the Chasers went crazy.  The first one to catch it was, surprisingly, Lavender Brown.  She weaved and bobbed this way and that, barely avoiding a bludger.  Ron raced closer to her and hit the black ball away, sending it toward one of the Slytherin Chasers.  Crabbe had suddenly appeared and hit the bludger away, and it sailed off to the side of the pitch.

          Lavender was being pursued by Pansy and Blaise, both aiming to take her out.  Before either of them could, however, she reeled up and tossed the Quaffle at one of the three hoops.  Unfortunately, for the Slytherins, Goyle was too busy picking at his nose to notice that the Quaffle had just cruised by his head and through the hoop.

          "You idiot!"  Draco shouted. "Pay attention!"  Not only was Draco the Seeker of the team, he was also the captain.  And right now, the captain of the Gryffindors was looking for a sight of the Snitch.

          "Sorry captain." Goyle said, turning his eyes back to the game.

          "Why do I put up with such morons?"  Draco huffed.

          Just then, he saw Potter do a nosedive.  He growled to himself before he took off after the Gryffindor's Seeker.

          "Watch it, Harry!"  Ron shouted, "Malfoy's coming behind you!"

          "Oh, stuff it, Weasley!"  Crabbe sneered.  "Let Potter defend himself.  Besides, he's been playing Seeker without your help for five years."

          Ron glared dangerously, "Next bludger I see I'm sending your way."

~*~

          Harry *did* hear Ron's warning, but it didn't faze his stature a bit.  He could just see the glint shining off of the golden snitch about three meters away.  The distance was getting smaller and smaller by the second and he could already feel the tiny ball in the palm of his hand.

          Moments later, a silver and green figure shot out from his side and rammed into his right side.  He turned his head quickly and instantly saw blond hair and a cheeky grin.

          "Malfoy."  Harry narrowed his eyes.

          Draco gave him a mock salute, "Potter."

          Harry turned his head forward again, looking for the sight of the snitch.  He spotted it almost instantly and so had Malfoy, it seemed.  Together they raced closer to their goal, the gleaming ball was now just a few feet away.

          Draco knew, almost dreadfully, that his Nimbus 2001 was no match for Harry's Firebolt, but he gave it all he got, just barely keeping up with his opponent.

          When Draco saw Harry stretch his arm out and open his hand, he knew that it was now or never.  Making sure nobody was watching, he veered his broom to the left, bumping his thigh against Potter's, and then grabbed hold of the end of the Firebolt with his hand.  He pulled up slightly, just as he pulled his own broom up, and they watched as the snitch moved from straight in front of them to below.  No one had noticed that foul.

          Harry growled in frustration and toward Draco's direction.  Draco smiled smugly and then they both looked down to get a glimpse at where the snitch had gone now.

          It was still below them, to Harry's amazement.  Just before either of them could dive after it, the snitch suddenly changed course and shot itself upward, right between Harry and Draco's broomsticks.

          Harry shot a hand out just as Draco did to catch the elusive ball.  When both began to cry in triumph, they instantly both gasped.

          Little golden wings fluttered from between the palms of both Seekers' clasped, sweaty hands.

          "Well, this is interesting." Draco drawled.

~*~

          Ron groaned aloud as he moved towards Seamus to smack away another bludger aimed at him.  This was getting ridiculous to say the least.  Both Crabbe and Bulstrode, the Slytherin Beaters, seemed to have come up with a sadistic plan to hit all the bludgers toward whoever had the quaffle, and continue to do so until one hit their target.  To say that Ron was upset was an understatement.

          Seamus sped away when Ron had hit the bludger back at the other two Beaters, hoping that that would get it through their heads that he wasn't appreciating this little game of theirs.  Millicent laughed boisterously before she flew over to where another bludger was coming from and she swung at it, hitting it toward the Gryffindor's newest member and novice player, Neville.

          "Neville!  Bludger coming at you!"  Ron warned.

          Ron was expecting Neville to take out his bat and try to hit it back, but instead he maneuvered his broomstick over and the bludger just barely missed the back end of his broom's bristles.

          "Get your bat ready, Neville!  Crabbe and Bulstrode are starting to get real nasty."

          Shakingly, Neville took out his bat and then quickly grabbed onto the front of his broomstick again.  Ron noticed that he was shaking badly and his knuckles were turning white.  "I'm sorry, Ron."  He whispered. "I don't think — I don't think I'm cut out for this."  

          "You just need more practice.  Come on, let's go make sure that those two aren't hitting any bludgers at our mates, huh?"

          Neville nodded, "Ok."  And together they looked around to see what the other two Beaters were doing.

          It was just as Ron had feared.  Bulstrode had just hit a bludger in the Keeper's direction.  Ron's eyes widened in horror.  Before Neville could say anything, Ron shot his broom in the Keeper's direction as fast as he could go.

          The Keeper, who was Ginny, screamed as she saw the bludger coming towards her.

          Ron shot right in front of his sister and swung his bat at the bludger, which was only about a foot away.  He was able to hit it out of the way, but he had swung his bat wrong and the impact of the hit had sent a very sharp pain through his hand and wrist.  Ron screamed out in agony and lost control of the broom as it hurdled down to the ground.  He couldn't move his wrist or his fingers.

          "Ron!"  Ginny cried.  Neville instantly moved over to the Keeper's side and positioned his bat.  He didn't wish to leave Ginny unprotected.  He knew that Ron would approve of his action.

~*~

          Harry and Draco were too busy staring at their clasped hands to have noticed what was going on with the other players.

          "What now?"  Harry asked.  "Hooch will be here soon and see us."

          Draco looked around and saw that Hooch had landed somewhere at the end of the Gryffindor's side of the pitch.  It looked like someone had been taken out, but he couldn't tell who it was.  All he saw was the red and gold colors on the uniform and he was relieved to know that it wasn't one of his teammates.

          Draco looked back at Harry and smirked, "Let's make a deal."

          Harry narrowed his eyes. "What kind of deal?"

          "I will let you have the snitch if . . ."

          "If what?"

          Draco smiled, as nice as he could, "If you finish what we started last night.  If you give me a kiss."

          Harry gasped.  He had no idea that Malfoy would ever bring that up, considering how Harry wasn't sure what Malfoy's motivations were.  He had been dreaming of completing that kiss last night, surprisingly wanting it to happen.  He only wanted to tease Malfoy, to get him sexually frustrated, and then back away.  But when he started teasing, he ended up teasing himself.

          Before Harry could speak his mind, Draco intervened.  "It has to be a very nice one.  No quick little peck, it has to be on the lips, and it has to be passionate."  He wiggled his eyebrows.  He knew that Harry yearned for him from the way he had touched Harry in the locker room.

          "That's pretty demanding," Harry said. "But won't everyone see?"

          "Yes, good point.  That's why I was about to say that we have to fly up as high as we can so that they can't see us."

          "But a lot of people have binoculars.  And some of those binoculars are pretty powerful and can see for miles."

          Draco waved a finger, "Tut, tut, Harry.  Have you not noticed that their attention right now is elsewhere?  They won't even notice us.  Come on, follow me."  Draco tugged lightly on the hand that was joined with Harry's, snitch still locked inside, and together they soared up as high as they could go and still breathe normally.

          When they reached the appropriate height, Draco just stared at Harry, waiting for him to make his move.

          "How will I know that you won't double cross me and steal the snitch when I'm busy kissing you?"

          Draco laughed, and to Harry's ears, at the moment, it sounded incredibly adorable.  "Trust me on this.  You really have no other choice.  Any time now, Hooch will find out where we went and come up here to see what's going on.  Do you want her to catch us snogging, or wrestling for the snitch?  Better make your move real quick, Lion, or you'll never get to have it."

          Harry sighed, knowing that he really couldn't think of a way out of this.  Oh, yes, he wanted that kiss to happen back in the locker room.  He so desperately wanted to feel those strong looking lips over his and inhale the blonde's aroma, breath the air he breathed, taste the saliva that he produced . . . he wanted that and more, especially now.

          "Ok," Harry said carefully. "It's a deal.  I give you a kiss and you give me the snitch."

          Draco smiled triumphantly.  "That's a good boy.  And then later, we discuss our date."

          Harry sighed, "Isn't the kiss supposed to come *after* the date?"

          "Don't make things more complicated than they already are, Lion.  Just kiss me."

          'He's so demanding!' Harry contemplated.  He slumped his shoulders in defeat.  He knew, any minute now, Hooch will be flying up here to see what was going on, and he would never get to kiss Malfoy, and Hooch would declare a draw. 'Yes, he's demanding, but he makes it so alluring. Damn him.'

          Harry found himself leaning closer to his adversary, slowly closing his eyes along the way.  He watched as Draco's eyes slowly slid shut as well before his world went black behind his eyelids.  It wasn't too difficult to find those soft lips, for he could smell and feel Draco all around him.  The blond had this certain musky, vanilla scent that drove his nostrils wild.  He felt his heart beating faster the closer he got to Draco, his chest was heaving intensely and his trousers were feeling a size too small.

          At first, the touch was very tentative and unsure.  The very thin surface of the two lips just made contact, and then, Draco moved experimentally, not wishing to scare Harry away.  Harry jolted but then leaned in a bit more into the kiss and finally felt Draco's lips pressed deeply into his.

The moment that their lips parted, a strong force flowed through them.  Harry gasped softly as he felt a jolting exchange of sparks between their mouths.  It was like they were sharing their magical energy, or feeling the strength in it.  He moaned into the Slytherin's mouth uncontrollably, unable to resist the other Seeker's urge for more.  He gave his all into that kiss, trying to show as much passion to the git as he could muster.

          Draco hummed his approval of the endearing kiss, loving the feel of those Gryffindor lips firmly molded with his, and the feeling of their magical properties being shared.  Slowly, and very reluctantly, he began to unlace his fingers from around Harry's, playing with his fingertips first, caressing them, before he moved his hand carefully away from Harry's.  The snitch seemed to vibrate even more as their grip loosened.  With his nimble fingers and thumb, Draco pulled down on Harry's fingers so that they were enclosed tightly around the golden ball.  With as much inner strength as he could gather, Draco tightened his hand around Harry's fist, which had the snitch in its tight grip, and slowly pulled back from Harry's face.

          Harry's cheeks were dark red, and his breath was coming out labored and harsh.  Draco Malfoy had just given him his first guy kiss, and it was more mind-blowing than any game of Quidditch that he had ever played with the Slytherins.  It didn't even compare to the sloppiness of his first kiss, or any other kiss he'd received.  He felt so light that for a second he didn't think he needed his Firebolt to fly to the heavens.

          "Draco . . ." 

          Malfoy tried to give Harry a reassuring smile as he whispered, "It's all yours—the snitch is yours.  You won."

          And before Harry could say anything, or think up anything to say to him, Draco had dropped from his position and headed for the field just as Hooch was starting to fly up to them.

          When Hooch had finally got up to where Harry was, Harry was still looking completely out of it.

          "What happened?"  Hooch asked.

          Harry snapped out of his stupor and then showed Hooch the snitch.  "I . . . I caught it."

          Hooch blew her whistle as she dove down to the pitch, announcing that Gryffindor had won.  The cheers from the bleachers were deafening, and Harry wondered quietly to himself just why everyone looked so relieved.

          "Yeah," Harry said finally, still feeling Draco's lips on his, "I've won."

~*~

          When the match was nearing its end (basically when Hooch saw that Harry and Draco were way up in the air with what looked like an argument), Seamus and Dean had flown down to where Ron had landed after he miraculously saved his little sister from a bludger.  While that was going on, and one of the Slytherin chasers had the quaffle, Neville stayed by Ginny's side, as he had silently promised Ron.  He had saved her from another bludger that came sailing toward them.

          With all of his courage, Neville cocked back the bat in his hand and smacked the bludger toward Crabbe, who had hit it their way in the first place.  Crabbe then hit it back toward them, getting Neville a bit riled, and he swung and whacked the bludger back again.

          While that was going on, the Slytherin chaser with the quaffle was nearing the Keeper with ramming speed.  Ginny steeled herself, determined to do her job as the Gryffindor Keeper and make sure that no points have been scored this time around.  The Slytherin looked like he wasn't fazed by the look on Ginny's face and he was just about to throw the quaffle when Hooch had announced that Gryffindor had won.

          Relieved and happy, Ginny cheered.  The Slytherin that had the quaffle, however, wasn't pleased and he threw it toward Ginny's head.  Ginny had just seen it coming straight at her out of the corner of her eye and she twirled her broom, hitting the quaffle away with fierce fortitude.  To say that the Slytherin was shocked was an understatement.

          Hooch had to blow her whistle again.  "Game's over, everyone!  Hit the showers!!"

          When Harry had snapped out of his astonishment, he instantly went to see who it was that got injured.  When he found out who it was, he kept kicking himself for being occupied with Malfoy.

          "How're you feeling, Ron?"  Harry asked.  They had brought the redheaded Beater to the hospital wing to get his wrist healed.

          Ron moved his wrist around in a circle, "Better.  But the next time we play, I'm sending all the bludgers to that ass Crabbe."

          "I'm sorry that I didn't see what was going on.  Malfoy was . . . well, he would have gotten the snitch if I wasn't there."

          "You couldn't help it, Harry.  You were just doing your job.  It's not like I can't take care of myself, you know."

          "Is Ginny ok?"  Harry asked suddenly.

          "Yeah.  But for some reason she's all psyched about the next time we play."  Ron shook his head. "I don't understand girls sometimes."

          "You mean most of the time."

          Ron hit him playfully, "Shut up."

          Harry snickered.

          Hermione walked in with a basket of candy and other goodies.

          Ron smiled, "Is all of that for me?"

          "No.  Some of it's for Harry." Hermione handed Harry a chocolate frog, "For a job well done for winning the match."

          Harry took the frog reluctantly, deciding not to reject Hermione's kind offer.  They would worry about him if he didn't accept it, which he felt he didn't deserve.  If they knew just how he got the snitch, they would have both fainted, he was sure of it.

          "Is that all I get is sweets?" Ron pouted, trying to get Hermione's sympathy.

          Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh, for crying out loud, Ronald!"

          "Come on, it's only Harry here!"  Ron grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

          Despite her best efforts to not smile, she did anyways.  Ron's smile could always force one out of her, nowadays, and she found herself leaning over the hospital bed and placing her lips to his.

          Harry groaned softly as he closed his eyes.  The image of Draco so close to his face, the heady smell that surrounded him and the feel of his lips on his, had come into his head unbidden.  When he opened his eyes, both of his friends were looking at him with concern.

          "Are you ok, Harry?"  Ron asked.

          Harry, despite how lonely he was feeling right now, smiled widely.  "Yeah, I'm good, Ron.  Never felt better."

          He was missing Draco badly.

~TBC~

Edited a few sentences, fixed some canon errors (like it being Harry's first GUY kiss, not just his first one), and deleted some unnecessary words.

Hopefully it's to you people's satisfaction. :)


	8. The Little Man

A big and hearty thank you to all that has replied to my fic!  I take it that many of you haven't read this fic before from the way you guys write your reviews. I'm glad that you do like it, even though it's not as good as my fic Unite or Crumble. (Which, btw, it being worked on.  Please be patient.)

I also have an idea of writing up a new part to this fic.  Like in between chapters, or something.  Not sure what I'll do yet, but I just thought that you should all know (especially those of you that read this before).

Title:  Protégé part 8

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  

Note that this is my first Harry Potter story. **(It's edited!)**  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).

**First written:** July 20, 2002

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (others?)

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.__

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Part 8: The Little Man

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          Harry had just sat down to breakfast when he heard a loud scream and then a slap.  Harry looked across the Great Hall and saw that Draco was holding one of his cheeks and he was glaring up at an enraged Pansy.  Harry felt his blood boil.

          "You pompous, unfeeling asshole!!"  The Slytherin table and part of the Gryffindor table heard Pansy scream.  "If I catch you sending one more flower to Harry-fucking-Potter, I will personally make sure that you aren't able to have any children!"  She stormed off.

          The whole Slytherin table was staring disbelievingly at Draco.  A few seconds later, Draco lifted a middle finger Pansy's way.  He looked back down at his breakfast, muttering, "Stupid bitch."  Then he looked up and noticed that they were all staring at him.  "Mind your own fucking business."  He grounded out.

          "So, that rose _was_ from you!" Crabbe gasped.

          Goyle was looking too shocked to say anything.

          "I mean it, leave me alone!" Draco slammed his fork down onto the table and then got up and stomped off.

          The Gryffindors were looking just as shocked. Those that didn't know beforehand that the rose was from Malfoy were muttering to themselves.  Ron was nodding his head, saying that he knew that Malfoy was up to no good.  It sounded as if Ron thought that Malfoy sent the rose to Harry so he could try making it up to the Gryffindor for putting that Protection charm on him, and also to make Pansy jealous.  Many had agreed with Ron's theory, which Harry was thankful for.  He didn't know if he'd be able to explain anything now, with everyone listening.

          Harry got up and quietly followed Draco.  Most of the Gryffindor table and the Slytherin table saw him go.  When he disappeared from sight, the room filled with constant chatter.

~*~

          "Draco!"

          Draco heard his name called and stopped short, not too sure if he should turn around.

          Harry caught up to him and then placed a hand on his shoulder, "What was that all about?"

          "Didn't you *hear* the nosy bitch?"  Draco spat.  "She hit me because she found out that I was the one that sent you that rose.  And now I'm sure that Goyle and Crabbe will let her know about the other . . . I mean … they will probably never talk to me again, or beat me into a living pulp." Draco wasn't really scared of his so-called goon squad; he was just trying to get some sympathy from Potter.

          "You're a better wizard than them." Harry pointed out, "You could curse them or something."

          Draco let a small smile slip, but then he reinforced himself. 'Damn!' He thought, 'I guess it's not going to be that easy to get sympathy from him.'  

"If you're trying to cheer me up, Potter . . ." He turned, forcing Harry's hand to drop from his shoulder, and looked deeply into those worrisome eyes.  "You'd have to do *so* much better than that."

          Harry smiled softly, "What other thing would Goyle and Crabbe let her know about?"

          Draco looked away.  "Never mind.  It's personal."  Harry could have sworn he saw a slight blush.

          "So, who cares what other people say?  Let them talk!"  Harry said, remembering what Draco said about cheering him up. "It's really none of their business who you do or do not like."

          Draco looked up at him with a glint in his eye, "Oh?  You think I like you?"

          Harry shrugged, "Why else would you protect me, or . . . um, help me with that strange plant, or even . . . kiss me?"

          Malfoy crossed his arms, smirking in amusement.  "Are you saying that you don't _mind_ being thought of as my boyfriend?"

          Harry shrugged again. "It doesn't bother me."

          "And the reason?"

          Harry took two steps forward, nose almost touching Draco's, and then leaned forward to place a small, chaste kiss on Draco's lips.  Draco sighed, letting his eyes close with a flutter.  The kiss ended too soon for either of their liking.

          "Does that answer your question?" Harry asked.  All Draco could do was nod tersely.

~*~

          If Potions class wasn't enjoyable before, it was horrid today.  The Slytherins weren't only poking fun at Harry, but they were also giving Draco disapproving looks.  Crabbe and Goyle were sitting next to each other behind Draco; talking in hushed whispers that Draco was sure weren't very pleasant.  He was sitting alone, staring ahead of him into nothing.  When Snape entered the room, the whispers had died down.

          "I have heard the humors and I am hoping that it will not effect this class.  Anyone speaking about it will be given detention for a week."  He shifted his eyes at Harry, who was looking unfazed as usual.  Snape wasn't in the mood to be putting up with teenage angst, or any kind of crap like it.

          "Today we will be making a levitation potion.  It is more reliable than the charm, and more fool-proof." Snape then looked over at the table that was behind Harry, "Unless, of course, you're Longbottom."

          Neville instantly began to squirm under that gaze.

          "You will take out your notebooks and write these ingredients down word for word, I will pair you up, and then you will come up and get the stuff you need."  One by one, Snape told them all what they needed and then when that was done, he put them all in pairs. "Today seems like the perfect opportunity to see just how well some of you have learned to cope with one another.  I will be pairing the two Houses together for this project.  Granger, you're with Bulstrode.  Weasley, you're with Crabbe."

          "Oh, for the love of crumb cake . . ." Ron mumbled.

          "Brown, you're with Parkinson.  Patil, you're with Zabini.  Longbottom, you're with Goyle."  Snape continued on and on, until the last pairing, which was obvious, was finally named. "Potter, you're with Malfoy."

          "Oh, of course." Harry sighed.

          "No lip from you today, Mr. Potter.  Understand?"

          Harry sighed, "Yes, sir."

          "Good.  Now, Slytherins come up and get the stuff.  We can't have any mishaps like the last time."

          Neville squirmed again.

          While all the Slytherins were up at the front getting their things, Harry felt a sharp pain in his shin.  He yipped, getting his friends' attention, but he assured them with quick hand gestures that he was fine.  He looked down at his shin and saw there, almost knee-high, the little man.  Harry furrowed his brow and tried to shoo the thing away, but it cracked a smile at him.

          "What you say is true, Potter boy?  What you say?"

          Harry cocked an eyebrow at it, and its strange way of talking, and then looked over at Hermione.  "Psst.  Hermione!  Did you hear that?"

          "Hear what?"

          "That voice."

          "All I hear is you." Hermione said and then turned her attention back to the front.

          "You're the only one that can hear me, Potter boy." The little man said.

          Harry sighed, 'Great, I *am* going crazy.'  He didn't dare say anything to the little man, because he didn't want everyone thinking he was any crazier.  When he felt another tug on his pants, he looked down.  The little man was smiling at him again.

          "What say we have fun?"

          "What say we don't?" Harry hissed under his breath.

          Draco had gotten all of the supplies needed and he sat down next to Harry. "All right, just remember that I do NOT want to be the only one doing this.  You _will_ help, won't you?"

          "Oh, yes, of course.  Whatever you say, Malfoy.  You're wish is my command." Harry said sardonically.

          "Good." Draco said, not caring if he was mocking him or not.  He had this overwhelming urge to say something about Harry's unknown innuendo, but he decided not to since there were people around.  "Now, cut the wormroot while I shred the . . . Ow!  Did you just kick me, Potter?"

          "No, I didn't." Harry looked down instantly and saw that the little man was grinning up at him.

          Draco followed Harry's gaze but saw nothing.  "It was too you.  Knock it off or I'm telling Professor Snape."

          "I didn't do it!" Harry huffed.

          "Sure you didn't." Draco rolled his eyes.

          "I didn't!"

          "If you didn't, then who did?"  Draco demanded.

          Harry was trying to concentrate on cutting up the wormroot, not wishing to answer him.

          "That's what I thought.  Little liar."

          "If I told you who it was, you wouldn't believe me." Harry hissed.

          Draco finished shredding his ingredient and put it into the bubbling pot.  "Of course not."  He got most of the liquid ingredients into the cauldron beforehand.  He stirred it, and then added a couple more ingredients.  "Are you finished with that wormroot yet?"

          "Yes." Harry gave him the cut up pieces.

          "Good.  Put them in . . . Potter."  Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry.

          "What?  What did I do now?  Is the wormroot not chopped even enough for you or something?"

          "You kicked me again."  Draco said, sounding very annoyed.

          Harry sighed heavily, "Look, it's not me.  You have to believe me."

          "Right.  Not you.  I guess it was Professor Snape then?"

          "No.  It was . . ." Harry looked down.  The little man was gone.

          "I am not playing anymore of your stupid games, Potter.  Do you understand?"  Draco put the cauldron on simmer.  "Stir this for me, I have to talk to Professor Snape."

          "To complain?" Harry sneered.

          Draco gave him a look and then stood to walk up toward Snape's desk.  Harry gasped when he saw, sitting there on Malfoy's shoulder, was the little man.

          The little man waved at him, and then took out a long sharp needle.

          "No!  Stop!" Harry got up and went to grab the little man but it disappeared and Harry ended up tackling Draco's shoulder.

          Draco whirled around and gave Harry a glare. "What is wrong with you??"  Harry looked around for the little man.  When he did, he saw the way the whole class was staring at him like he's gone mad. 'Maybe I am going completely insane.'

          "There was this . . . it was . . . a little man."

          "A what, Potter?"

          "A little man."  Harry said again.  He knew that no one would believe him, but he WAS telling the truth.

          "Look," Draco was now pointing a menacing finger at Harry. "I do NOT know what is wrong with you, but there is NO little man, Potter!  Either stop acting like a loon, or go have your head examined!"

          Snape then stood up, "Is there a problem here, Mr. Malfoy?"

          "Yes.  Potter's acting like a complete nutter.  I wish to switch partners with someone."

          "I'm sorry, but the lesson is almost finished and it would be pointless to switch now."

          "But, sir!"

          "Mr. Malfoy!" Snape slammed his hands onto his desk.  "Don't question me!  Now go sit down and look after the potion.  And as for you, Mr. Potter," he pointed a long finger at Harry, "You will stop behaving irrationally and help Mr. Malfoy with the potion."

          "Yes, sir." Harry sighed, sitting back down.

          "What are you all staring at?  Get to work!"  Snape hissed.  Everyone instantly jumped and went back to making their potions.

~*~

          Once everyone had finished with their potion, Snape would have them take a small sip each.  The more they drink, the higher and longer they would be able to float.  For now, Snape had told them, they were to only take a sip.

          The color of the potion was supposed to be a light blue color.  When Snape stopped over at Longbottom and Goyle's cauldron, he noticed that it was purple instead of light blue.

          Snape took a ladle and scooped some up for everyone to see, "Just what color is this, Mr. Longbottom?"

          "It's . . . it's . . ." Neville squeaked.

          "It's violet, Mr. Longbottom!  And what color is it supposed to be?"

"B-b-blue, sir?"

          "LIGHT blue, Longbottom!  Are you color blind?"

          "No, sir."  Neville was shaking.

          "Then WHY is it violet?"

          All Neville could do was shake and frown.

          "I will tell you why.  It's because you added too many Unicorn hairs!  It specifically asks for four strands.  Four strands!  How many did you add, Longbottom?"

          "I . . . I added four . . ."

          "Then why is it violet?"

          Neville shyly peered over at Goyle, who was twirling his quill in his hand innocently. "Sir, I think maybe . . . I think Goyle here . . .."

          "So you're blaming your partner for your mistake?"

          Neville gulped and looked down at his lap.

          "Five points from Gryffindor.  I think we all know why."  Snape stalked away.

          Harry hissed between his teeth.  He knew that Goyle sabotaged the potion, but was Goyle really that willing to do that to his own grade?

          "Oh, by the way, Mr. Goyle, your grade won't be affected because of Longbottom's mistake."

          All of the Gryffindors looked appalled.  Snape turned back to look at the class. "Everyone take a small sip of their potion now."  He eyed Longbottom, "_Everyone_."

          "Even Goyle?"  Lavender asked.

          Snape whirled around to give her a beady stare.  "No.  Goyle will take some from Miss Granger's cauldron."

          Goyle grinned, looking in front of him.  Hermione could feel those eyes boring through the back of her head.

          Everyone took a small sip of his or her potion (and Goyle took a sip of Hermione's).  Harry felt the sudden weightlessness of his body being levitated from his seat.  He went up about four inches and then stopped.

          When Neville tasted his potion, he felt a sudden twitch in his eyes before he felt his stomach quickly fill with air.  He instantly put his hands to his stomach and groaned from the pressure.  Goyle noticed that Longbottom's stomach was getting so big that it looked like he was pregnant.  Goyle inched away, or more like, floated away, to a safe corner of the room.

          Harry looked back at what the laughter was about and saw what was happening to poor Neville.  He really looked like he was in pain.  "Neville?  Are you …"

          Before Harry could ask, Neville let out a very loud groan and he felt his belly deflate instantly.  It all came out through his mouth and his . . . .

          "Oooh, ewwww!" Everyone gagged.

          So completely and totally embarrassed, Neville closed his eyes and grit his teeth.  This was the longest gas attack he had ever had.  He sounded just like a giant balloon being deflated.

          When Neville had finally finished releasing his air, and everyone had somewhat calmed down from coughing and looking sick, he groaned to himself. "I felt like I was about to explode!"

          "The reason why you didn't, Mr. Longbottom, is because you have . . . exits."

          Everyone started to laugh again.

          "Now his name fits him." Draco whispered to Harry.

          Harry glared back at the Slytherin. "Be nice."

          Draco grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

          Snape walked over and sat back down at his desk.  "Everyone remember what happened because you'll get quizzed on it."

          Harry was sure that nobody was going to ever forget _that!_

~*~

          After Snape was finished writing something down, Harry noticed, he had taken out a long rack of vials of a variety.  Snape, then, took out a beaker and began to pour a few drops of a couple vials and then he reached over and took a handful of some kind of powder.

          While he watched Snape doing this, the little man popped up again.  This time the little man, or whatever it was, was now hovering above Snape's head.  It looked directly at Harry and winked.

          "What say we make Snape go boom?"

          Harry shook his head vigorously.

          "Yes, yes, we make Snape go BOOOOOM!"

          To Harry's horror, the little man suddenly transformed the potion in Snape's hand into one Harry recognized as a very explosive and deadly concoction.  One drop of the stuff into any other potion would destroy half of the school!  Before Harry even stopped to think of what he was doing, he leapt over the desk and reached up to grab at Snape's hand that was about to pour in the wrong stuff.

          It wasn't a good thing.  The moment that Harry grabbed Snape's hand, Snape's skin began to turn a bright red and blister up.  The Professor screamed in agony and then dropped his vial, which burnt a hole through his desk.

          Harry reeled back in terror when he finally realized what he had done.  Snape was holding his hand and glaring dagger's at him.

          "DETENTION, POTTER!"

          "Sir . . . oh, cripes, I'm sorry!  But you grabbed the wrong vial and I was just trying to . . ."

          "Grabbed the wrong vial??  I *knew* which vial I had grabbed!"

          "But sir, there was this little man floating above you . . . and he changed it on you . . ."

          "Detention next week as well, Potter!"  Harry flinched.  "AND . . ." He looked over at Draco who was trying not to laugh. "Detention for Mr. Malfoy for placing the stupid charm on you in the first place!"

          Draco stood up, "But, sir!"

          "NO BUTS, Mr. Malfoy!  Either you have detention as long as Potter here, or you take the charm off of him!"

          Everyone waited with baited breath to see if Draco would actually defy his favorite teacher.  Draco sighed, knowing that he was finally defeated.  "All right, sir."  He took out his wand.

          "Glad to see that you've finally come to your senses, Mr. Malfoy."  Snape walked over and took out a small vial of what Harry thought was some kind of healing potion because he started to pour a few drops onto his hand.

          "Oh, sir, I'm sorry.  I forgot about the Protection charm."

          "I don't want any excuses, Potter." Snape eyed Draco.

          Draco got up and walked over to stand in front of Harry.  He held his wand out, looking very reluctant about doing it.  He sighed, waved it at Harry and muttered,

          "Finite Incanatem."

~TBC~

I only edited a few mistakes and add a little bit of detail.  I might write a new chapter for this in the middle of another chapter, or have an epilogue or something.  Not sure what I'm doing yet.  If I decide on writing a new part, then it might take me longer to get the next one out.

Thanks again for reviewing, and thank you old readers for re-reading this and reviewing once more!


	9. A Muddy Date

For the last time: 

**The little man is NOT a leprachaun!**

**This fic is already WRITTEN!  I am just EDITING it and REPOSTING it!  This has been written LONG TIME AGO. And so have the sequels for it.**  I really wish you people would read my notes! .

Title:  Protégé part 9 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.

Note that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).

**(New notes)** I am rewriting (editing) this for a repost.  This is the first part in my trilogy, in which I need a name for, I think.  The second part of the trilogy is called Move Heaven and Earth, and the third is called Evil Begets Evil.  I don't know how much will be changed, but if anything does change, I will make note of it at the end of the chapter.

**Contents:**  This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst, adventure (let's hope), and some possible lime, depending on my muse.

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (others?)

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__

A Muddy Date

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

          The next day, during lunch, Harry had almost everyone touching him in different ways since breakfast.  They would pat him on the back or shake his hand saying, "Thank Gods Snape got him to take that charm off of you, huh?" and he had already received six hugs from Ginny by lunchtime.  She explained, with a flush face, that she was trying to make up for the lost times that she couldn't hug him.

Harry had received a letter from a strange owl once he sat down to eat.  Everyone stared when it arrived, and continued to stare as Harry slowly began to open it with slightly shaky hands.

          _I am now asking for that favor that you owe me.  You know which one.  Meet me down at the beach after your last class.  Don't make me wait long._

          _D. M._

          "Damn." Harry cursed, folding the letter back up.  Tonight he had planned to go see how Professor Sprout was doing.  He heard that they had finally finished looking over the strange biting plant and had discovered that it was a Dark Magic Weed.  He wanted to find out more about it at the time, but they wouldn't let him.

          "What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked, finally looking up from her notebook.

          "I have to wait another day to go see Sprout." Harry groaned.

          "Why?" she asked.  Ron was just about to ask the same thing.

          "Because . . ." he sighed, not liking to lie to his friends.  Well, it wouldn't be a total lie.  "Um, because Malfoy needs to talk to me."

          Ron shook his head.  "Probably wants to put that charm back on you."

          Harry sighed, thinking back to Potions class yesterday and the look on Draco's face.  He looked so mortified to have to take the Protection charm off of him.  It was for the best though, wasn't it?

          "I doubt it.  Snape would have a cow if he did."

          "All the same, don't let your guard down." Hermione said, bringing her eyes back down on her parchment. 

          "Don't worry, I won't." Harry said.

          Lavender suddenly bounced over to where they were seated and leaned forward on the table, wide smile in place. "So, you and Malfoy, huh?"

          "W-what?" Harry blinked.

          Ron and Hermione looked at Lavender and then back at Harry in confusion.

          "Parkinson told me." she said, flipping her hair away from her face.

          "You know better than to believe whatever *she* says!" Hermione huffed.

          "Yes, but, you see. . . she has proof!"

          "Proof about what exactly?" Ron asked.

          "Well, you know, about Harry and Malfoy!"

          They continued to stare, dumbfounded.

          "The rose!  That was from Malfoy right?  Well, Pansy found out that he was going to send *another* rose, with a romantic poem!"

          Everyone sitting around them turned to look at Harry.

          Harry tried to look thunderstruck, but turned out looking more embarrassed than anything.

          "Harry?"  Ron gave his best friend a look that was saying, 'This is a joke, right?'

          Harry waved his hands in an innocent gesture. "Oh, come on, you don't suspect me and *Malfoy* would be together like … like _that_, do you?  He's obviously trying to get Parkinson jealous!"

          "See?  That's what I was thinking too!" Ron exclaimed.

          Hermione sighed, looking infuriated.

~*~

          Finally escaping his last class, and the nasty glare from Pansy in the hallway, Harry ran to his room to put away his books, and then rushed back out.  He only had about two hours left of daylight before curfew.

          He finally made his way to the beach, and once he saw the tow-headed Slytherin, he quietly walked over to where Draco was standing and stopped to watch his profile.

          He was gorgeous, Harry mused.  Little strands of blond hair had gotten loose from the gel and were blowing lightly around his forehead and ears.  Those gray eyes looked so forlorn that Harry wanted to creep up behind him and hold him.  He wasn't too sure how his heart turned things around, but it had happened.  He had hated Draco, he'd been real angry with Draco, and now. . . he was confused.  He felt comforted, protected, admired . . . now whenever he saw Draco, his heart didn't beat fast because of anger anymore.

          Harry took a few more steps forward, this time not caring if he was quiet or not, keeping his eyes on the blonde's face.  Draco felt him approaching and turned his head toward him.  Harry stopped a few feet from Draco and they gazed into each other's emotion-filled eyes.

          "Harry," Draco said, trying to keep from smiling.

          "Draco,"  Harry nodded.

          "I didn't think you'd come."

          Harry shrugged, "A deal's a deal, right?"

          Draco smirked.

          Harry walked closer, still watching the scene unfold before him.  The breeze blew all around and the fresh air filled his nostrils.  He watched Draco's eyes twinkle and then he held out a hand.

          "Shall we?"

          Harry sighed, looked down at the offered hand, and then slowly took it with his own. "All right, lead the way."

          They walked along the sandy shore, hand in hand, silently for a while before stopping at the side of a rocky overhang.  Draco slowly let go of Harry's hand and leaned back against the rocks.  He looked into his date's eyes, loving the way some specks of green in them stood out more than others, and he smiled.

          "So, what do you think?"

          "About what?" Harry asked, feeling more nervous than before.  He felt his palms getting sweaty.  This was an odd thing for him, because usually when he looked at Draco, he would feel loathing, not this strange pulsating sensation.

          "About the place I picked for our date."

          Harry did a quick glance around at the beach, the wet sand only a few feet from them, small ripples hitting the lakeside beach, and a few birds flying overhead.  "It's not bad.  But what are we supposed to do?"

          Draco shrugged, "I don't know.  I've never been on a date before."

          "Never?"  

          "Well, a social date, but nothing like this.  Besides, it was your idea to have just a date and not a romp between the sheets."

          Harry felt his cheeks flush.

          "So," Harry cleared his throat, "Why all of this?  Why the protection from unknown danger?  Why the kiss?  Why this date?  Just . . . why?"

          "Why?"

          "Yes, why?  The protection thing seemed so, I don't know . . . sudden."

          Draco sighed and turned to look out at the waves.  "Ever since I saw you in my nightmare, with those lifeless eyes, the scared expression on your face . . ."  He swallowed a lump.  Why was he telling Potter this?  Was this the right way for a date to go?

          Harry was swept away, just like when he and Draco kissed on their broomsticks, high up in the air.  It almost seemed right, the setting for their first kiss.  They had been doing what they loved to do best — fly and play Quidditch.  Harry moved a couple fingers to his lips, the feeling of their first kiss was still haunting him.

          After more silence, Harry asked, "How can I trust you?"

          At this, Draco smiled. "You can come to me for anything, no matter what."

"Anything?  Anything at all?"

          "Well - almost anything.  You can ask me questions and I'll answer you truthfully … unless I'm not permitted to say anything or I really don't know the answer.  Then you're out of luck."

          "Ok," Harry smiled. "Let's talk about the rose."

          "Let's not." Draco turned his head.

          "Why not?  Tell me why you sent me a rose.  Were you really apologizing to me, or was it something else?"

          Harry watched as the bridge of Draco's nose went pink. "Somethin' else." Draco muttered.  "I was. . . I was just wooing you.  That's all."

          "Wooing me?  Why would you want to do something like that?"

          Draco got his old, sneering look back.  "Because, I wanted to.  I don't need an explanation."

          "Fine, let's talk about something else." Harry moved so that he was leaning up against the rocky ledge next to Draco.  "During our kiss, did you feel it?"

          "Feel what?"

          "The magic."

          "Oh, I love you too, Potter."

          "No!  I meant the way *our* magic sort of mingled together.  Didn't you feel that?"

          "Oh, that!  Yeah, that was pretty cool, huh?"

          Harry sighed, "Don't you think it's strange?"

          "Maybe.  Then again, magic can do many things that are unexpected."

          Harry leaned his head onto Draco's shoulder, "We should ask Dumbledore, he might have an idea."

          "Right.  When in doubt of your own abilities to figure things out, go to him."

          Harry looked up, "That wasn't very nice."

          "What did you expect?  I'm not a very nice person."

          Harry couldn't help but snicker, "You're not very nice, but you want to protect me."

          "We're getting into an area in which I believe I have already explained, so let's change the subject."

          "Ok." Harry straightened up and then turned so that he was facing Draco, who was still leaning back against the rocky cliff. "Did you really mean it or were you joking when you said that you loved me?"

          Draco was silent for a while as he stared at Harry's face.  

"Harry?"

          "Yes?"

          "Shush."

          Harry chuckled.

          Draco couldn't help it but a few seconds later he found himself chuckling also.

          "So, Potter, what is the deal with this little man that you claim to see?  Is it an imaginary friend?"

          "What?  No!  He just keeps popping up everywhere and tries to annoy me.  From what I can tell, that's all he's doing.  Either someone is playing a real cruel joke, or it's some strange magical being."

          "Well, if only *you* can see and hear him, he must be after *you*."

          "Probably.  But who isn't?"

          "Damn it, that was the whole point for the protection spell!"

          Something just occurred to Harry.  "Wait a second . . . I had the protection spell on me when I first saw the little man."

          "Yeah, so?"

          "So?  He touched me!  He didn't get shocked!"

          "Well, that's not good to hear."

          Harry shook his head, "No, it isn't."

          "Ok, subject change.  Did you find out what's up with Sprout?"

          "No, I haven't."  Harry eyes widened, "Why, Drake, I didn't know you cared."

          "I don't.  I'm just curious."

          "You know what Muggles say about curiosity?"

          "No, what?"

          "That it killed the cat."

          "Glad I'm not a cat."  Draco smirked.

          "No, you're a dragon." Draco laughed.  "Anyways, the only thing I found out is that the plant that I almost destroyed is a type of Dark Weed."

          "And that's all you know?"

          "Yes.  That's all they were willing to tell me."

          "Bugger.  So will she die?"

          "I don't know.  I heard that she's pretty weak though.  I was going to go see her but you asked me on this date, so I couldn't go."

          "Pity, huh?  You're stuck with me for the entire evening I'm afraid."

          Harry placed a hand on Draco's chest, "Ok, now I'm going to ask you a question."

          "Go ahead.  I told you that you could."

          Harry nodded, "Well, I was wondering. . . are you a. . . are you a Death Eater?"

          Draco smirked, "No.  I hear that 'death' has way too many calories and it would just ruin my figure!"  Harry laughed.  "I almost hate to ask," Draco said, searching for one of Harry's hands with his own.  "But I'm curious.  Do you have or had any crushes?"

          Harry blushed. "Yeah.  Um, there was Cho Chang …  and I had a slight crush on Hermione during the second year . . ."

          Draco laughed.  "You liked the Mud . . ." he stopped short when he noticed Harry's look darkened.  "Sorry, go on."

          "Um, I had a small one on Zabini."

          "Now that is funny!" Draco guffawed.  He had finally gotten a hold of Harry's hand and pulled him closer.  "Who else?"

          "Uh, Justin Finch-Fletchley . . ."

          "That Huffie-Puffie?"

          "Yeah.  Um, and then you."

          "Of course." Draco said, sounding a bit conceited.  "But, what, no Weasely?"

          "Redheads don't do it for me."  Harry emphasized this by wrapping his arms tightly around Draco's waist.  "But I like blondes."  With that, he moved his face closer and lightly pressed his lips onto Draco's.

          Draco 'mmm-ed' with delight and opened his mouth slowly, deliberately teasing the bottom of Harry's lip.  Then just as slowly, Draco slid the tip of his tongue between Harry's lips.  Harry okayed this move by allowing Draco in to dance with his tongue.  They both jumped slightly when they felt each other's magic again; felt it flow and caress the other's power. Harry let out a loving sigh as Draco stroked his back.

          Draco removed his mouth only a few inches away so that he could croon out, "The sweetest kiss- that I've ever tasted- had to have come from . . . a Gryffin-dor . . . the softest sigh that got me high, came from a boy looked out by Dumble-dore . . ."

          Harry laughed, "Who sings that?"

          "Me.  I just made it up."

          Harry continued to snicker as he tried to kiss Draco again.  Their smiling lips met again and it slowly became fiercer, as did the way they held each other.  The strength of their mingling magic powers began to fade down to a light purr as they indulged in something that was beginning to grow between them, something that felt more alive than the Light and Dark magic that was coursing through their veins.

          Something that always seemed to save Harry's life.

          Soon, after a few more minutes of stroking and kissing, they held onto one another and just stood there, leaning against the semi-smooth ledge.  When Draco wrapped his arms around Harry's waist, he noticed that he could almost wrap them around Harry twice. 'He's got such a skinny middle.  I'm going to have to make sure he's actually eating.'  Draco moved his head from the top of Harry's, in which the dark-haired boy's was nestled in the crook of his neck, so that he could place a small kiss on the tip of the lightning scar.

          "Is this . . . is this what we're supposed to be doing on a date?" Draco asked softly.

          "I'm not sure." Harry murmured back.  "Maybe we should walk along the beach like lovers do?"

          Draco laughed, deciding not to say something rude.  "Ok, let's." 

          Harry leaned in and gave his new boyfriend another kiss.  "Yes.  Let's." He grabbed onto Draco's hand and yanked him away from the rocky overhang.  Harry pulled him across the dry sand to the edge and proceeded to take his shoes off.  Draco caught on and took his off as well.  Finally, barefooted, Draco grabbed Harry's hand and led him into the wet sand.

          They jogged through the surf, hands still firmly together, with Draco leading the way.  He looked back at Harry, urging him to go faster now, smiling broadly as Harry smiled back.

          And then, Draco's face quickly disappeared from Harry's view.  Harry felt his hand was empty and then looked down.  Draco was lying face down in ankle deep water.  Harry couldn't help the laugh escaping his lips.  Draco had just tripped over a piece of driftwood.

          Very humiliated, Draco lifted himself halfway up and out of the mud.  It was covering most of his front, his face, and some was even in his hair.  He looked up to glare deadly at Harry, whom was trying to stop laughing.

          "I'm. . . I'm so sorry, Draco!" Harry gasped for breath. "I don't mean to laugh, really!" He watched as the look in Draco's eyes became deadlier by the second.  Harry finally got himself under control, and then noticed how adorable Draco looked with mud on his face and neck.  He knelt down and placed a light kiss onto Draco's wet lips.  "I couldn't help it."  Harry said when he saw the look of surprise on Draco's face, "You're way too cute like this."

          That got a smile from his Slytherin boyfriend.  "I was *this* close to beating the shit out of you and then you go and kiss me!"

          Harry laughed, "Want another one, Mudpie?"

          "Don't call me that!"

          Harry chuckled again and kissed him harder this time.  He parted his lips, prompting Draco to do the same, and then stopped to wipe at his mouth.

          Draco gave him a hurt look.  "Gee, if I'm *that* bad of a kisser you could have just told me so."

          "No, no, you're a great kisser.  I just got a mouthful of mud, that's all."

          Draco let out a giant snort, forgetting all about his anger.  Harry helped him up from the ground, and then also helped him shed his muddy clothes.  "Let's take a dip."  Draco nodded in agreement, helping Harry with his clothing.

          Floating above the rocky ledge, the little man grinned wickedly.

~TBC~

There's the sap, ladies and gents.  But dark times are ahead for the two lovebirds.  Dark times. . .

I didn't edit much this time.  I guess this chapter was a slight turning point in my grammar skills. ^_^  Well, next one, I'm guessing, will be posted in a couple days.  Maybe three.  See you later, and thanks for the reviews!


	10. The Nightmare Begins

Thanks for all the reviews.  I'm sorry that I almost forgot about posting this today.  I haven't been feeling well lately.  Luckily, I'll get more into the groove of things and finish that next part to UoC (which might end up being longer than expected).  Hopefully this will tide you over. 

Also, I've got a couple other ficlets I'm working on.  Look for them soon on aff.net and my livejournal.

Thanks!!

Title:  Protégé part 10 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another.  This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read.  Go read some other fic.  Do not harass the author, please.

Note that this is my first Harry Potter story.  I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).

**More notes:**  I am rewriting this for a repost.  This is the first part in my trilogy, in which I need a name for, I think.  The second part of the trilogy is called Move Heaven and Earth, and the third is called Evil Begets Evil.  I don't know how much will be changed, since I'm writing this note first before I edit.  If anything does change, I will make note of it at the end of the chapter.

Date first written: July 28, 2002

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (others?)

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:**  I do NOT own any of these characters!  J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book. 

Remember: this is written way before book 5.  I don't think I was done reading book 4 when I wrote this.__

_+++Dream sequence+++_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

The Nightmare Begins

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

          Harry waited for everyone to fall asleep before he crept out of the dormitory, donning his invisibility cloak.  The Fat Lady was half asleep when he left; he could hear her grunt unappreciatively.  As silent as the wind in the hallways, Harry walked briskly toward the hospital wing.  He knew that Professor Sprout wouldn't be awake when he got there, but he had to see what her condition was.  He brought his wand with to do a health scan spell to check. [A/N: where he learned this, I have no clue]

          He had to stop a couple times on the way to avoid detection, but he finally made it to the room that Sprout was occupying.  When he reached her bedside, he slipped his cloak off and hung it up next to her bed.

          Very quietly, Harry took out his wand and performed the Health Scan charm.  Harry gasped when he discovered her current state.

          "Oh no," He whispered. "I'm so sorry, Professor.  If only I knew where the bezoars were right now. . . ."

          A sudden image came to him without warning.  Harry gasped when it became too familiar.

          "The dungeons. . . so Draco's nightmare is coming true." He looked down at the barely breathing professor. "Saving someone's life. . ." Harry quoted, "Secret room that no one knows about. . . that's where they are."  He put his wand back into his robes, grabbed his invisibility cloak, and then walked out.

          He headed straight for the dungeons.

~*~

+++    It was dark.  So very dark, and all Draco could see in front of his face was a faint glow about fifty feet in front of him.  He took out his wand, whispered 'Lumos' and then walked slowly toward the glowing green light.  The corridors didn't seem to be getting any lighter from the spell, but he continued forward.  His heart was beating almost out of his chest as he got closer to the source.

          He could just barely hear it; a faint sound of rumbling.  It sounded like a loud purr, or even a faint rumble of a train on its tracks.  As he got closer to the light, he noticed that it was coming from underneath a painting that he had only noticed once or twice.  It was one of those paintings that just didn't seem significant enough to heed.

          Draco brought his lit wand up to look at the picture so that he knew which one it was.

          Whoever or whatever that was supposed to be in the painting was no longer there.  He tried, but he couldn't think of what the picture was supposed to be of.  He knew that a few pictures over there should be one of a giant drake, and another one next to that one was an old Slytherin headmaster. [A/N: How did I call that one?? O.o wow.]  The painting had mountains in the background, and even a light blue sky that seemed to almost blind him with brightness.  He saw the clouds in that sky moving, and a bird fly by once in a while, but on the grassy knoll below all of that, there was nothing.

          'Was it that animal painting?' Draco mused. 'Now what animal was it?  Maybe it was a beast. . . a unicorn?  No, we don't have unicorn paintings in the dungeon.'  Draco tried and tried, but he couldn't think of it.  Shrugging, Draco put his hand onto the corner of the painting and pulled.

          It swung open.

          "Peculiar." He mumbled.

          Light flooded his vision for what seemed like an eternity before he could see.  The moment his vision cleared, however, he decided that he wished it hadn't, as the sight before him was far from pleasant.

          It was a monster, all right.  A very *big* monster.  It reminded him of the rumors that he had heard during his first year of a three-headed dog living on the third floor, but with one major difference.  This monster … this thing … was much, much uglier.  And, in its talon-like hands, it held Harry Potter.  He seemed to be unconscious.

          "Unhand him!"  Draco screamed.

          The thing turned its disgusting, slobbering head at Draco and glared with its big yellow eyes.

          With a shaky hand, Draco held up his wand.  He quickly glanced over at Harry, who looked caked in dirt, sweat, and blood.  He felt his own anger boil and then he brought his wand up to cast one of the most deadly of curses.

          Before he could even speak the spell, his world went blank.

+++

          Draco sat up in bed, shaking and soaked with sweat.

          "The demonic bastard!" he hissed. "It's teasing me!  It's trying to lure me from my bedroom." he was about to pick up his bottle of Dreamless Sleep potion when he stopped. "That. . . that was the most vivid my nightmare's ever been!"  It was unthinkable, but Draco decided that a walk around the dungeons wouldn't hurt.  "I hope I'm wrong." He slipped out of bed and then quietly out of the room.  When he made it down to the common room, he thought he heard someone outside of the Slytherin's painting.

          Draco cracked the painting open carefully and peeked his head around the corner.  There, clad in only red and gold pajamas, was Ron Weasley.

          With a feeling of relief, Draco walked up to the redhead, set on an all out badger.

          "Weasel!  What in the HELL are you doing down here in our dungeons?"

          "I don't have time for this, Malfoy!" Ron hissed.  His hair was sticking up all sorts of places and Draco couldn't help but laugh at this. "What's so funny?"

          "Nice hair, Weasley.  The get up and go look?"

          "Sod off, asshole.  You're wasting my time."

          "At least tell me what you're doing down here?" Draco tried to sound nice enough so that he could get some kind of answer.

          Ron whirled on him, glaring deadly into the Slytherin's eyes. "For your information, Harry is missing."

          "What??" Draco gasped.  The look of utmost worry on Draco's face had surprised Ron, so he let his guard down.  But only a little.

          "Yes.  Something woke me up, I'm not sure what it was.  I thought it was Neville's snoring.  When I looked over at Harry's bed, I found it very odd that the curtains weren't drawn, and I saw that he wasn't in it.  First thought was that he had gone to the hospital wing.  He wasn't there when I arrived, so I figured that he might have been at the Quidditch pitch, thinking.  When he wasn't there, I checked the beach, thinking he was with you for some strange reason.  Then I finally decided to check the dungeons 'cause I remembered him mumbling about looking for the missing bezoars down here.  So here I am."

          "Bugger!  Shit!  Goddamn it!!"

          "Why are *you* so upset?" Ron asked uncertainly.

          What should he say to Harry's, his boyfriend's, best friend?  Should he tell him about the nightmare?  Should he tell Weasley about the danger that Harry was in?  Should he say that he had Harry, tied up in his bed and at his mercy just to shoo him away?  Should he even tell the weasel that they're together yet?

          He took out his wand, deciding that he'd do something that he knew Harry would smile upon.

          Ron took notice of Malfoy taking out his wand and he grit his teeth.  He didn't think to arm himself, thinking that he wouldn't be meeting up with any enemies while he was out looking.  Yeah, when he thought about the possibility that Harry was with Malfoy at the beach, he didn't think that he'd be in any danger if Harry were there.  He glared dangerously at the blond.

          "I'm sorry about this." Draco said.  Before Ron could mutter his surprise at Malfoy apologizing, Draco waved his wand. "Petrificus Totalus."

          Ron went stiff as a board, and then fell over backwards.

          Draco stepped over the petrified Gryffindor, started to walk onward, but then stopped.  He made his way back over to Weasley and then knelt down at his side.  "I know that you're going to be very pissed at me for doing this to you, but I have my reasons.  Don't worry, when and if I come back, I'll take the spell off.  For now, just think about this. . .  I will never, ever harm Harry intentionally.  I deeply respect him." With that, he stood up, gave Ron a smirk, and then walked away.

~*~

          Completely invisible, Harry combed the Slytherin halls.

          'A room not everyone knows about. . . a secret room. . . why is it secret?  A room with a password?  Behind a painting?  A statue, maybe?  Maybe through an invisible wall?'  The possibilities were endless, but first Harry decided on checking the paintings.

          The dungeon halls were pretty dark.  Not many torches were lit.  Harry took out his wand, whispered 'Lumos' and then started to look at all of the paintings.  All of the ones that were too small to hide doorways were dismissed.  He came across a rather large painting that had a big dragon on the front.  It was a white dragon with piercing metallic eyes.

          "Draco. . ." Harry sighed the name that the picture reminded him of.  He had a feeling that if Draco's nightmare was correct, then his boyfriend (Harry smiled at this) would be joining him shortly.  He had to make his search quick, for he didn't want Draco to try stopping him.  He just knew that Draco would do something like that, seeing that Draco was the one trying to protect him.  So, he trudged onward, searching painting after painting.

          "But, if I find the right one . . . what do I do?  How do I know it's the right one?  I don't even know the password.  How am I to meet up with Draco's dream monster when I can't even find. . . ."

          A sudden bright light hit his eyes, blinding him.  Harry moved his arm up to shield his eyes.  When he could look again, he noticed a painting to his right had swung open by itself.

          "Well, that's one way."  Harry said.  He carefully made his way toward the open portrait and tried to see what was on the front of it.  He saw only rolling hills, tall mountains, and a blue sky with moving clouds.  There was nothing else.

          Very slowly, Harry stepped through, his wand poised at the ready.  The moment that he was clear of the threshold, the painting behind him slammed itself shut.  In surprise, Harry took his invisibility cloak off and spun around.  Nobody.  He quickly turned his attention back to the strangely bright room.

          The room was definitely different.  It was much bigger than the dorms, but not much taller.  It had many silver and emerald items and coins lying around, along with books, hats, quills, and vials.  Harry looked around at the stonewalls and saw cobwebs and old, unmoving paintings.  Something off to the side caught his eye and he slowly walked over to a coat rack.  He ran his fingers through a cloak that seemed identical to his invisibility cloak, but the patterns on it were much darker in color.  "What is it?"  Harry muttered.

          "The Cloak of Shadows."  A small, familiar voice answered.

          Harry whirled around and saw there, standing by a giant gold chest, was the little man.

          "I don't believe this."

~*~

          Draco groaned to himself.  "I don't believe this!  What was that stupid fool thinking?  He *knows* that there's danger!  Why does he do this??"

          'Because he's brave and full of nerve.  Because he's a Gryffindor.' said a voice of reason in his head.

          "Of course.  He's a complete and total prat!  Why'd I have to go fall for some fearless Gryffindor?  Let alone Harry Potter??"

          'Because he's cute?'

          "Shut up!"  Draco growled.  Ok, so maybe he thought he was going bonkers for having a strange conversation with himself, but he felt that that was the least of his worries right now.

          Minutes went by as Draco began to search through the Slytherin halls for his elusive boyfriend.  The corridors became darker by the second, so he took out his wand and said, "Lumos."

          'Just like the dream.'

          "Bugger."

          As he carried on, his heart began to beat wildly with anxiety.  He scanned each wall carefully, on the look out for a particular painting with rolling hills and a bright blue sky with roving clouds.  "It's got to be here. . . yes, it should be . . ."

          Suddenly, he heard it . . . a faint roar.  Or maybe it was a growl?  Feeling even more anxious, Draco sped himself toward the sound, hoping that he won't see a limp, lifeless looking Harry in the hands of a monster.  "Goddamn it, Harry!  You're not supposed to die yet!"

          And then he finally saw his destination.

          The light under the painting.  It was the painting in his dream.  He heard another roar.

          "Oh, Gods, no . . ."

~TBC~

Yes, this part was short, I'm sorry.  I really can't think of anything else to add to this.  Chalk it up to my annoying time of the month. -_-  I really do want to add a middle chapter to one of these, but I might end up just editing the last part, or adding some sort of epilogue, because I can't think of anything.

Thanks again for your reviews.


	11. The Truth About Love and Hate

Title: Protégé part 11 

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another. This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read. Go read some other fic. Do not harass the author, please. And there is some strong language in here!

Sorry that this took so long to re-write. I just kept forgetting about it, mainly.

**Contents:** This fic will contain Slash, sap, drama, angst

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (others?)

**Year: 6th **

**Disclaimer:** I do NOT own any of these characters! J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book. __

"I don't believe this," Harry muttered.

Standing there, next to a gold chest, was the little man.

"What say you, Harry Potter? Are you surprised? Are you not? Are you even the real Harry Potter? What say you?"

"I say explain yourself," Harry snarled, bringing his wand out.

"Or else what? You kill me? Ha! Harry—cursed by Lord Voldemort—Potter cannot harm me! I am a Demon Imp! Beelzebub's helper! Now what you say, boy? Now what you say?"

"I say Harry—working on his last nerve—Potter is going to give you one chance to give me back those bezoars or you'll regret it."

The Demon Imp laughed. It was a high-pitched laugh meant to pierce a Muggle's ears. Harry didn't even flinch. "Ok," The imp said with a satanic smirk, "I will tell you this much. I do have the bezoars, I have them in this chest." He stroked the top of the chest like it was a cat. "I am the one that gave Sprout that plant. Was that not ingenious? Plant poisoned Sprouty, like I have planned. I have pilfered the bezoars before I did, however. I have taken that into account, no? So then, I get revenge on Sprout for getting me put in Azkaban, and then I repay the kind wizard that let me out."

Harry was stunned, but wasn't sure what to say. 'Someone let this thing out of Azkaban? Who would do such a thing?'

"You must be wondering who that endearing wizard was, aren't you? Well, I do not know his name but he was a rich Death Eater with a lot of tasty House Elves. Oh yes, he let me crunch and munch on one. Wasn't that nice of him?"

Harry grounded his teeth. "Lucius Malfoy."

"So, of course, how am I to repay this wonderful wizard? Well, what else do I do but hand him the head of Harry Potter? Clever, isn't it? So, while I waited for you to get a clue to where I have stashed the bezoars, I have been entertaining myself with you and watching Sprout die a slow and miserable death."

Harry brought his wand up in front of his face, "Over my dead body."

The imp grinned. "Precisely."

Before Harry could react, the imp's face went from his usual pale color to a putrid gray. The green and brown clothes ripped from his body, his teeth grew to large proportions, and his legs and arms became big and lanky. The thing's jaw, claws, feet, and tail were twice the size of the rest of his body. It looked like all of the muscle and other mass had all gone to it's claws, head, and feet.

"NOW," It growled, drool oozing out of the corners of its mouth, "NOW WHAT YOU SAY, HARRY POTTER? YOU READY TO BE SERVED AS A MAIN COURSE??" It brought up a humungous hand, "TIME TO LOPPITY-LOP POTTER'S HEAD!!"

Harry leapt out of the way just as the Demon imp's giant claw came forward. He needed time to think, he had to decide just what curse he should use to stop this heartless creature. Harry brought his wand up and positioned it.

The demon imp walked heavily on the ground as he moved toward him. It swung its massive knuckles back and forth as it came closer, its long, forked-like tongue rolled out from between two oversized fangs. He casted the first spell that came to his mind.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The thing shrieked as it stopped for a moment, but then its arms suddenly jerked outward, like it was ripping itself free from rope.

"NICE TRY," It bellowed, smirking. The imp slashed at Harry with one of its enormous claws. Harry jumped backwards and the claws just ripped the front of his school uniform. The imp picked up a very heavy looking bookstand and threw it at him.

"Winguardium Leviosa!"

The bookstand rose up into the air, and then Harry made it move back toward the enraged imp. He let it crash down on top of the monster, but it wasn't phased.

"HOW LONG CAN YOU KEEP THIS UP, POTTY? YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF ROOM, AND YOUR PETTY SPELLS CANNOT HARM ME." Harry dived away from another attack. "TRUST ME, YOU CANNOT WIN. NOT EVEN THE ONE YOU LOVE WILL BE ABLE TO HELP YOU. HE TRIED THOUGH, DIDN'T HE? PROTECTION CHARM! PAAH! LOVE ALONE CANNOT DEFEAT ME. NEITHER CAN HATE."

"Love or hate can't stop you?" Harry gasped. He had just dodged another attack that made him go flying into something heavy, giving him a rather large wound on his arm.

"ALONE THEY CAN'T. IT IS SOMETHING OF RARITY, I ASSURE YOU."

"Like, what? Love and hate together?"

"YOU'RE CLOSE, POTTY. MAYBE I HAVE UNDERESTIMATED YOU."

"Everyone does," Harry ground his teeth. He swished his wand and enounced, "Avada Kedavra!"

"Oh, gods, no!" Draco gasped. This wasn't supposed to happen. This was NOT supposed to happen!

He ran, as fast as his legs could carry him, toward the light under the painting. This was it, the one in his nightmare, the one with the rolling hills and the bright blue sky with moving clouds. He heard a rumbling roar. It was. . . it sounded like a voice! It sounded like the beast had a major drooling problem.

Draco took out his wand, put his free hand on the side of the painting and swung it open. The bright light inside of the room blinded him for a moment before he urged himself forward.

He was a coward. He had known this ever since he was put into the Slytherin House. He would never have the nerve to go up against anything that would rather eat him whole than have tea with him.

Suddenly he heard it, within the room, that familiar spell. . . "Avada Kedavra!" He saw a bright flash of green. Draco smiled, feeling stupid for ever doubting that Harry could take care of himself.

Draco suddenly froze with fear. The creature had laughed. The curse didn't work! Why? Suddenly, the bright flash of green was seen again, like it was bouncing off of something. It bounced? The green light was getting brighter. "Harry!"

It wasn't what he expected to happen. When Harry did the curse, he tried his best to do it with love. He focused on his love for his friends, for his dead parents, for his new boyfriend Draco Malfoy, and for the want of everyone and everything to be happy and free.

And it didn't work. When the killing curse had bounced off of the imp, making the imp laugh, Harry had a split second to dodge it. The curse barely missed the top of his head, hitting a shiny gold shield behind him. It bounced off of that and came toward the imp again.

"BATTER'S UP!" The imp shouted, and knocked the curse away again with its large fist. It hit a giant spider in the corner of the room, killing it instantly. "NO MORE GAMES!" The imp roared. "TIME TO FINISH THIS FOR GOOD!" With surprising speed, it came at Harry, and then knocked his wand out of his hand. Before Harry could duck or dodge, the monster had a firm grip around Harry's skinny middle.

"DUM, DUM, DEE, DUM. . . DUMB, DEEEEE DUMB, DUMB, DUMB, DUMBY DUMB!!" It squeezed him.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!" Harry screamed, just as Draco entered the room.

"Harry!" Draco gasped. It was as he feared after all. Harry was in the clutches of the nightmare monster. "Unhand him!" Draco demanded, poising his wand at the ready. He saw the unconscious look on Harry's face, along with the caked on dirt and blood, and felt like screaming.

After a silent stare-down, the creature finally said. "IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU GOT HERE. WHAT KEPT YOU?"

"Wha—what??" Draco gasped. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

The monster gave him a toothy grin. "JUST WHO DID YOU THINK GAVE YOU THAT NIGHTMARE EVERY BLOODY NIGHT? THE TOOTH FAIRY??"

Draco cocked a brow. "The what?"

"I GAVE YOU THE STUPID, SEMI-TRUE NIGHTMARE TO LURE YOU HERE! YOU REALLY ARE A BRAINLESS TWIT, AREN'T YOU?"

"I dare you to say that again!" Draco sneered.

"BRAINLESS TWIT! BRAINLESS TWIT! BRAINLESS TWIT! BRAINLESS TWIT!! NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?"

Draco growled low in his throat. What could he do? He had to save Harry. . . his Harry. Draco jerked in surprise. 'His Harry? Since when did I own Potter?'

"IT'S JUST AS I THOUGHT. ALL TALK AND NO ACTION. THAT'S A SLYTHERIN FOR YA. AND AS FOR THAT LITTLE ROMANTIC DOINGS YOU TWO HAD GOING, I THOUGHT YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT I FOUND IT VERY SICKENING TO WATCH. BUT THE FUNNIEST PART WAS WHEN YOU TRIPPED AND FELL INTO THE MUD! NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A MUDBLOOD!! HAHAHAHAHA!!"

"You Son of a Harpy!!"

"SO MAYBE I AM, SO WHAT?" It grinned. "ANYWAYS, NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE, I SUPPOSE IT'S TIME TO GET ON WITH MY PLAN. I KNOW THAT YOU'RE VERY FOND OF POTTER'S BODY, SO I WILL KEEP THAT IN TACT FOR YOU. BUT I NEED HIS HEAD FOR THE NICE WIZARD WHO SET ME FREE FROM AZKABAN. SO, SHALL WE PLAY _POP GO THE POTTER_?"

"Wait! Why AM I here? What do you want with me?"

The thing grinned wickedly, "OH, I SUPPOSE I COULD TELL YOU. YOU SEE, WHEN I POP THIS BOY'S HEAD, YOU WILL BE LEFT WITH THE BODY. I NEED SOME KIND OF COVER UP, DON'T I?"

"You're using me as a scapegoat??" Draco fumed.

"VERY GOOD. I GUESS NOT ALL BLONDES ARE DUMB."

"And what made you think I'd come down here to even save him?"

The imp laughed. "BECAUSE YOU'RE POSSESSIVE OF YOUR RIVAL. YOU WANT TO BE THE ONE TO DEFEAT HIM. IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU. YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU. . . EGOTISTIC LITTLE PRAT! WELL, GUESS WHAT? YOUR PRECIOUS EGO, AND LITTLE BOY-TOY, IS GOING TO GET CRUSHED, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. COOL BEANS, NO?"

Just as the imp began to squeeze Harry again, Draco screamed.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

Bright, bright, silvery-green light went straight toward the demon imp. Thinking that it was safe, it didn't move as it stared at Draco with amusement.

That look changed the moment the curse hit it. With a look of disbelief on its face, the imp cried out in agony and then slumped to the floor. Harry fell with a bone-crunching thud onto the stony ground.

"Harry!" Draco ran to his boyfriend's side. Instantly he used his wand to fix whatever he could on Harry. The boy was still unconscious when he was finished with the broken bones. That was all he remembered what to do when it came to healing. He just never thought he needed to know any more about healing spells.

Draco took a hold of Harry's head and placed it into his lap. "Don't you fucking dare die on me, Potter! Only I am allowed to kill you!" he placed his shaky hand over Harry's exposed chest. Carefully he fingered with the rips and tears on Harry's uniform. "You're not allowed to leave, you bastard!" Draco's voice cracked. "You're not allowed!"

Harry coughed and spit up some blood before he said weakly, "Shut up, prick, and let me rest."

Draco felt the hot sting of relief flood through him. "Don't you dare pull that kind of idiotic stunt again! I don't care how brave you fucking are! You try something like this again and I won't be there to save your skinny arse! And speaking of which, Potter, are you eating enough? You're awfully skinny. . ."

Harry smiled as he went unconscious again.

Harry woke up again in the infirmary. This place was beginning to become like a second home for him.

He suddenly felt a pair of hands place his glasses on his face. He looked over and saw a relieved looking Ron Weasely.

"Hey there, Harry. Welcome back to the conscious world."

"Hey," Harry's voice cracked. "What time is it?"

"It's seven. You missed your classes today, but Hermione is bringing your homework." Harry scoffed at this. "Are you feeling all right, Harry? Do you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm a bit woozy, but I'm fine." Suddenly, without thinking, Harry asked. "Where's Draco?"

Ron jumped, "Why do you want to know where that git is? He's probably kicking himself that you survived. By the way, what did you go and do? Where were you? And more importantly, did you meet up with Malfoy down in the dungeons? He was looking for you."

"Yeah. He helped me."

"He did what??" Ron gasped.

"Oh, the bezoars!" Harry said suddenly, changing the subject, "someone needs to go down to the dungeons and get. . ."

"They're back where they belong. Somebody had dropped off a huge chest full of them."

"And Sprout?"

"She's doing much better. She'll be up and teaching again tomorrow."

"That's a relief." Harry sighed, relaxing more into his pillow. 'Draco brought the chest of bezoars back, I'll bet. I'll have to remember to thank him.'

Hermione walked in with an armful of books and treats. "This is getting ridiculous, boys. The hospital wing isn't a social gathering you know." She handed Harry a chocolate frog. Harry smiled. "So, how's my adopted brother doing?"

"Better." Harry said, opening his chocolate frog. It almost jumped out of reach, but Harry snatched it quickly before it could get away.

"Gotta love those Seeker reflexes, eh, Harry?"

Harry smiled around his chocolate treat before biting down.

A scapegoat. Draco threw his silver tray into his bedchamber's mirror. The image-him leapt out of the way before it smashed the glass into pieces. That was all he was to the creature? A fucking scapegoat! Someone to blame the death of Harry Potter on!

But what he didn't understand was why his 'Avada Kedavra' worked and Harry's didn't. Was he stronger than Potter? Did Potter have too much love in him to pull it off? Was it because he was a coward, standing up for the one he loved?

Love? Yeah right! He just lusted after Potter, that was all. Love had nothing to do with it. It was completely irrational!

'What about that feeling you had on the beach?' his inner voice asked.

"A fluke." Draco muttered to himself. He half believed himself. "It was the hormones talking. Potter's emotions are just catching, that's all. It's like the plague. . ."

'How is it like the plague?' That voice asked. 'Didn't you feel it? Your heart grew to great proportions!'

"Shut up!" Draco screamed, clamping his hands over his ears. "Shut the fuck up!"

Draco's owl hooted in annoyance. He looked up at the animal and sneered.

"Who asked you?"

Draco finally got himself more in control and he walked up to his wardrobe. He opened it, revealing a dark hooded cloak. "Well, at least it wasn't a total loss."

TBC


	12. The Best Detention

Title: Protégé part 12

**Warnings and notes:** This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another. This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read. Go read some other fic. Do not harass the author, please.

**Pairings:** Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione

**Year: 6th **

Rated: R (Yes, this IS R! Hard R!)

**Disclaimer:** I do NOT own any of these characters! J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.

I'm sorry I forgot about posting this! I don't like editting my stuff, but for here it had to be done. This is the R-rated version. Other places that have my fics (like my yahoo mailing list and on AFF) have to original one.

I have been trying my best to get more of my other fics written, but with a couple of them my muse is having some problems. I'm sorry. Please be patient with me!

* * *

After Harry had reassured Madam Pomfrey over and over again that he was just fine, he wandered the halls to his dorm. It was odd to hear Draco's voice after he had woken from unconsciousness on the stone floor of the dungeons. He didn't know why the thing, the demon imp, didn't get affected by his Avada Kedavra curse. The imp had told him that the only way to defeat him was with love and hate combined. At least that was what it sounded like. There was more to it, he knew, but he decided to stop racking his brain about trying to figure it out and just go with it. Yes, Harry was very shocked to hear Draco's voice when he became conscious, telling him that he was an idiot for doing what he did and how skinny he looked.

When Harry finally got the strength to talk again, he asked Draco just what happened. Draco had told Harry that he defeated the thing, just like in his dream. Harry then told Draco that the demon imp wasn't expecting his dream to come fully true. The monster made most of it up. That was when Draco had laughed and said that it figured. 'Killed by it's own stupid imagination.' Draco chuckled.

Harry had told Draco everything. Even the part about the wizard who helped the demon imp escape from Azkaban. "Oh, rubbish." Draco said. "There are other rich Death Eaters with tons of House-elves around. It couldn't be my father."

"So you say." Harry said weakly. But Draco didn't want to hear it. So, Harry gave up trying to get him to listen, not wanting to continue fighting since he was too weak at the moment.

But now, Harry had his strength back, and if his so-called boyfriend wanted to argue with him about any issue at all, he wouldn't back down so easily. He knew that Draco was thickheaded about certain things, and one of them being that he was rather loyal to his family.

He was just thinking over how he was going to make Draco see the facts when a warm hand landed on his shoulder. Startled from his thoughts, Harry whirled around, without thinking, and punched the intruder.

"Goddamn it!" The figure groaned. Something black fell away from the person's face, showing slicked back blond locks. "Gee, I'm glad to see you too." It was Draco and he was holding his nose.

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry Draco!" Harry said, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth nervously. "I didn't mean to do that. I've just been deep in thought. Are you ok?"

Draco tested to see if his nose was broken. "I'll live. But now I know better than to sneak up on you when you're concentrating. It's a good thing that you didn't have your wand out."

"I'm sorry," Harry said again. It felt odd saying that to Draco since he was supposed to be his rival. "You just scared me."

"Jumpy today, huh? Wouldn't blame you from what you went through last night."

Harry's eyes fell upon something in Draco's hand. "Is that what I think it is?"

"What?"

Harry pointed to the cloak in his hand, "That! That thing in your hand!"

Draco held up his cloak, "Oh this? It's just a cloak I found, that's all."

"It's the Cloak of Shadows, isn't it?"

Draco looked everywhere except in Harry's eyes. "I don't know what you mean."

Harry sighed, throwing his arms up in the air. "You're impossible!"

It was odd how such a simple gesture from Harry could make Draco Malfoy cave in. "Ok, so maybe it is. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is if it belonged to that damn Demon Imp, I wouldn't trust it."

"But it's fun! You get to hide in shadows and sneak around easier. So much more convenient to use when one's breaking rules." At that, Draco wiggled his eyebrows.

Harry bit his bottom lip, wondering if he should tell Draco about his invisibility cloak or not. He was so glad that he had snatched it up secretly before Draco carried him away. Harry used the excuse that he thought he dropped something over in the corner, and then grabbed his cloak quickly and stuck it into his pocket.

"So," Draco drawled on when Harry wouldn't answer him. "It looks like I saved your arse after all."

Harry rolled his eyes. "It looks like it, yes. Despite the Protection charm." He couldn't help rub in.

"Oh shut up." Draco said, not really meaning it.

"By the way," Harry moved closer to Draco and gave him a peck on the cheek, "thanks for bringing the bezoars up to the hospital wing."

Draco fought the oncoming blush. "I don't know what you're talking about, Potter." He turned around and walked off toward the Slytherin dungeons.

"Uh huh." Harry smiled, knowingly.

* * *

During lunch, Harry's two best friends sat on either side of him, and he was half listening to them gab about homework and the teachers. If they wanted to talk, why didn't they sit by each other instead of sandwiching him in? Harry moved a few peas around on his plate as he finally perked his ears up and heard Ron say something to Hermione that made her leap up from her spot and conk Ron on the head. Harry had to duck a bit.

"Will you two just knock it off?" Harry groaned. "If you're going to fight, leave me out of it."

"What do you mean, Harry? We are leaving you out of it." Hermione said, glaring back at Ron.

"I feel like the pickle in the middle." Harry explained.

Ron looked like he was trying to hide a blush. "Sorry, Harry, it's just. . . well, me and Hermione. . . we, you know. . ."

"No, I don't know. Enlighten me." Harry said.

Hermione spoke up. "What Mr. Vocabulary here is trying to say is that we just started going steady and he doesn't want the whole school to know yet. Especially his brothers."

Harry looked over at Ron with amusement. "You don't say?"

"And," Hermione drawled on, "He says that his hormones are out of control and he's afraid that he'd jump me in front of every. . ."

"Hermione!" Ron was blushing from head to toe.

"What's this about going steady?" Neville asked, finally sitting down to eat. Him, Dean, Seamus, and Lavender had all arrived a little late. They all had to stay after class to clean up something.

"Nothing!" Ron shouted. "No one is going steady!"

"I heard something about going steady and having hormone problems." Seamus smiled. This made Ron go even pinker.

"You heard wrong!" Ron growled. He got up and walked off.

Hermione sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "I better go make sure that he doesn't do anything really stupid."

"And this isn't normal?" Harry asked. Everyone laughed, except Hermione. She left with a sigh, and a shake of her head.

The mail finally arrived, along with Harry and Draco's detention notices from Snape. They were both to clean the classroom from top to bottom without any magic. This meant they had to wash the vials and equipment by hand, so they had to wear protective gloves, and they had to also clean the underside of the desks which was a very scary thing all in itself. Goyle or Crabbe liked to stick their bogies and chewed up gum under the tables.

"I can't stand servant work," Draco was grumbling. Harry shook his head and smiled. He was trying hard not to laugh at the Slytherin.

"You'll survive, my Mudpie." Harry said with a smirk.

Draco glared at Harry, "Do NOT call me that, Potter. And of course I'll survive, but will my cuticals?" He put his hands up for emphasis, nails facing toward Harry.

"You can get a manicure." Harry shrugged. "You're rich enough. Unless you want to wear gloves." He held up the rubber gloves with a smirk. "That IS what they're for you know."

Draco snatched them from Harry's hand, "Shut up, Potter." He instantly slipped the gloves on. Harry was laughing into his sleeve as he put his own gloves on. There was no way that he was going to tackle washing out the potions equipment with bare hands.

Minutes later, one of their arguments had ended rather sour instead of reaching a high climax, which usually resulted in a fistfight.

"Merlin, it's not even fun fighting with you anymore!" Draco sighed. They had finally finished washing all of the vials and other glass things and were now starting on the cauldrons.

Harry laughed. "Whatever do you mean, Muddy?"

Draco brandished his scrubbing brush in Harry's direction, trying to look menacing, "Call me anything with the word mud in it again, and you'll be rolling in it! I guarantee that!"

Harry couldn't help smiling. Draco looked way too cute with a cleaning utensil in his hand, rubber gloves on, and a little red scarf around his head.

"What are you smiling at?" Draco demanded, narrowing his eyes.

"You." Harry said, walking closer, "You are just way too adorable looking like a scrub maid."

Draco huffed, tossing his head up in a defying manner. "I really resent that, Potter!"

Harry leaned over to whisper into Draco's ear. "You'd look even better if you were wearing a maid's outfit complete with guarder belt and stockings."

Draco dropped his brush.

Harry moved closer and softly placed his lips underneath Draco's ear, right on the sensitive spot. Draco shivered, and unexpectedly moaned out loud.

"Does my dragon like that?" Harry murmured. He lowered his lips further, leaving a hot trail of kisses down Draco's neck. He felt his boyfriend's pulse quicken the farther down his lips traveled. Harry slipped a glove off of a hand, and with that bare hand, he hooked his finger around the collar of Draco's uniform and tugged, exposing more skin. Harry continued to lick and kiss at whatever skin there was in front of him.

"Harry. . ." Draco groaned.

"Yes, Draco?" Harry whispered against his skin.

"We're supposed to be. . . Harry!" Harry had found the buttons on Draco's shirt and was carefully undoing them. "What if someone sees?"

"They'd get quite an eyeful then, wouldn't they?" Harry snickered.

"In the potions classroom? You're kinkier than I thought."

Harry lowered his head to Draco's collarbone, taking off his other glove, then opening the front of Draco's shirt even more. Draco bit his lip from groaning aloud. He slipped his own grimy gloves off so that he could run his hands through those messy black locks. Harry moved his hands up and slipped off the rag from Draco's head so that he could run his fingers through Draco's blond hair.

Giving up on resisting, Draco took a hold of Harry and threw him up against the nearest wall to attack his sensitive neck. "We'll see just who is the dominant one here, Potter."

Harry chuckled and lifted his head up to expose more throat. For some reason he felt like he was a wolf trying to join Draco's pack, showing throat. Draco took the invitation and nibbled at the area right above Harry's voice box.

"That's it, Lion, surrender to me."

Harry shivered, moaning Draco's name. He had never let anyone take any kind of control like this before. It was so exotic that he felt his knees turning into butter.

"Yes." Draco sighed, feeling himself growing hard. "Let me hear you, Harry Potter, I want to hear you moan my name. . . say it the way you'd beg for mercy. That is, if you ever _would_ beg for mercy. . ." Draco slipped a hand lower to undo Harry's shirt. Before they knew it, they were both shirtless and growing more breathless. Draco kissed his way down Harry's chest, gently touching each nipple before going lower.

"Oh, please, Draco. . ."

"Yes, Harry. . ."

"I need. . . oh, god, I need you!"

"Oh, Harry, yes!" Draco went crazy at Harry's waist, nuzzling and kissing the flat stomach before him before sliding down Harry's zipper. Draco received a shock when he found that Harry's sex was rather podgy.

Harry arched his body. "Draco!"

The task of cleaning the potions room started to fade away in their fogged up minds. Panting and grunting, Harry gave in to the incredible pleasure that Draco was giving him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he found release in his boyfriend's mouth. A magic spark coursed through them both as Draco swallowed.

"Now _that_ was magically delicious." Draco snickered. Harry laughed hard. Not only did Draco make a funny, but he also didn't know about the Muggle jingle that his joke sounded just like.

Draco stood back up from his knees to kiss Harry deeply. Harry finally controlled his laughter enough to kiss him back. Draco shook his head, not fully understanding why Harry was still laughing, but was happy that he could make him laugh nonetheless. It felt way better than making him angry.

"Now, what about me?" Draco asked, trying to pout.

Harry smiled. "Oh yeah, I have to do something about this, don't I?" He found the bulge in Draco's pants and gently clenched it.

"You're bloody well right."

Harry grabbed onto Draco's shoulders and pushed him up against the wall this time. With as much patience as he could, Harry kissed his way slowly down Draco's neck to his chest, kissing each caramel colored nipple for a while before descending himself to his main goal. Draco was squirming and growling in frustration from the teasing. Harry was enjoying the little grunts and noises that he was getting Draco to do.

"You're too eager, love. Just relax."

"Potter, if you don't start doing what you're supposed to be doing. . ."

"Careful with those threats, Malfoy. I could just leave you hanging. You wouldn't want me to do that, would you?"

Draco growled low in his throat. "Damn it! I'm supposed to be the dominant one here! And when I say do it, I mean DO IT! Right now!"

"Yes, Master." Harry mocked.

"That's better, pet."

Harry couldn't help running his fingernails through Draco's curly blond hairs on the pubic mound as he marveled at Draco's manhood. He lapped at the small droplet at the tip, rolled the salty taste around in his mouth for a while, and then swallowed it.

Draco gasped, throwing his head back against the wall with a small thud. He had his fingers splayed across the wall behind him, clenching and unclenching them as Harry slowly began to take him further and further. Draco grit his teeth as he brought his hands to the back of Harry's head to urge him onward.

The spark of magic came back, bringing Draco on the verge of climax. Harry dug his fingers into Draco's back before lowering them down to his arse. Harry kneaded those tight buns until he felt Draco's completion.

When Draco finally got his breath back, he said, "This is the best detention I've ever had."

Harry agreed by pressing his lips to Draco's.

* * *

Unknown to both boys, someone had snuck into Draco's dorm room while they where in detention. Finding the second, unsent rose in Draco's drawer, the hand brought it up to the owner's face.

Pansy inhaled the fragrance of the white rose slowly before she began to pick the petals off of it, one by one.

"He loves Potter, he hates Potter. . . he loves Potter. . . he hates Potter. . ." each white, pearly petal fell onto Draco's desk as she continued with the childish action. "He loves Potter. . . he hates Potter. . . He. . ." Pansy got to the last petal, "He loves Potter. . ."

In a fit of rage, she threw the rest of the rose across the room. "He does NOT!" She went into Draco's dresser and pulled out all of his hand written poems and started to rip them into pieces. "He does not! He does not! He does NOT!"

Finally calming herself down, Pansy reached for a clean piece of parchment and Draco's quill and started to write.

"Dear Mr. Malfoy. . ."

End

Yes, that's the end of Protégé. But there will be a sequel. I just can't continue to call it Protégé after this. Well, in a way I guess I could, but Draco is no longer protecting Harry. It is possible that it will become the other way around. That's why I say that I could still call it Protégé, but I have a lot of other things in mind, so the title really won't fit. So, until then, fans, look out for my sequel.

And yes, I will be redoing the sequel to this. It is called Move Heaven and Earth. Some chapters will probably be re-written to be more canon and more post-OOTP.


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